


We Are the End

by Trufreak89



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Alternate Universe - Zombies, F/F, F/M, Other, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-08
Updated: 2016-04-11
Packaged: 2018-03-16 23:48:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 58,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3507194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Trufreak89/pseuds/Trufreak89
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Months after the initial outbreak of the recently dead returning to life, Laura Hollis finds herself separated from her friends, and her life saved by the mysterious and enigmatic Carmilla. When she finds out her savior is actually a vampire, Laura soon learns that there is more out there to worry about than just zombies.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"Don't let go! Don't let go!" Laura Hollis knows her desperate pleas are useless, even as she screams them at the top of her lungs. She's clinging to the side of the chain link fence that one of her friends has just scaled effortlessly. Laura is a tiny slip of a girl, only a couple of inches over five foot, unlike Danny Lawrence, who towers over her by a foot.

A lifetime ago, the two girls were neighbours. Despite Danny being a year older, they've been best friends since Laura was eight. The girls have been through a lot together over the years, from the terrors of middle school to the tortures of high school. Laura's small stature and good nature tended to make her a target for bullies, but Danny had always been there to defend her. To protect her. That's why Laura knows Danny won't let go of her wrist as she desperately tries to help pull her up the chain link fence. The older girl's jaw is locked tight, and there's a look of manic determination in her eyes as she hangs over the top of the fence, the barbwire biting in to the flesh of her stomach where her shirt has rode up.

"Hang on!" Danny urges, even as she feels her fingers begin to slip. She doesn't look at the hoard of _things_ that are slowly lurching towards the fence. She and Laura both try to ignore the low, rumbling groans that are coming ever closer. By Danny's count, it's been fifty-one days since all this started, and she still isn't used to that awful sound. "Laura!"

The smaller girl's wrist slips from Danny's grip - It's the middle of summer in Virginia, and her palms are hot and sweaty from running for her life. They had thought the out of the way junk yard would be a good place to scavenge. Surrounded by an eight foot chain link fence, the place had seemed secure enough. They'd broken the lock on the gate and easily slipped inside, making sure to close the gate back over behind them. There had been one old man shuffling around in the yard. Dressed in tattered overalls and a stained under shirt, he had probably been the owner of the junk yard back when he was alive.

It hadn't taken much for Danny to take him out, one quick, clean blow to the skull with a crowbar and the shuffling corpse had dropped to the ground. Laura had averted her gaze, unable to watch. Even in this God-forsaken, fucked up world they've found themselves in, Laura still can't bring herself to take a life; not even when a flesh hungry walking corpse is intent on ripping out her throat.

Somewhere along the perimeter fence there must be a hole, because the seemingly quiet junk yard is now over-run with the walking dead. The noise of Danny and Laura's scavenging had obviously drawn them out of the surrounding woodland. They'd amassed quite a hoard of treasures in an old rusty wheelbarrow, but the girls had quickly dropped their hoard of treasures, valuing their lives over old car batteries, golf clubs and scrap metal.

One of the dead had lurched out from behind a stack of car tyres, catching hold of Laura's hair with a vice like grip. The seventeen year old had been holding a tyre iron at the time, but even with dead man's jaws snapping inches away from her face, she hadn't been able to use it. Danny has tried time and time again to explain that they're already dead, but Laura still can't do it. Danny spends her nights worrying that her childhood friend isn't cut out for this world of dog eat dog survival, and she spends her days ensuring that Laura _does_ survive. She's all Danny has left.

That's why she doesn't think twice about dropping back down from the fence as Laura falls. The nearest zombie of the group stumbling towards them reaches Laura just as Danny drops to the ground. At some point in it's life, the putrid corpse had been a young woman, probably no older than Danny herself. It's hard to discern whether she had once been attractive or not. Her skin is the colour of mould and half of her scalp is hanging off. Her dirty blonde hair, thick with dirt and grease, hangs limply over her shoulders.

To Danny, it doesn't matter that this _thing_ was once a person; a living, breathing, human being with hopes and aspirations. There is nothing remotely human left about it. The corpse has no sense of co-ordination, or self preservation. It's driven by one simple impulse as it throws itself to the ground with a sickening crunch, it's knees crumbling from the force. It's almost muscle memory, as Danny pulls the crowbar out of the waistband of her jeans and slams it down against the back of the zombie's skull.

"Tha-" Laura starts to thank her, but Danny doesn't have time for that. She's in full survival mode as she yanks the other girl to her feet and pushes her up the muddy embankment back towards the fence.  
"Move!" Danny barks at her as she stoops down and cups her hands in front of her; while Laura stands there, staring blankly at her hands, a hoard of walking corpses literally snapping at their heels. Laura doesn't do great under pressure. She's starting to shut down, and Danny can't let that happen. She grabs a fist full of Laura's shirt and tugs her forward, crushing their lips together. The kiss is short and sweet, but it snaps Laura out of her daze.

Danny uses the crowbar to take out another zombie that has lumbered dangerously close, before cupping her hands again to give the smaller girl a leg up. With Danny's help, Laura makes it over the fence, and the former track star quickly follows her. Danny is athletic and agile, and pretty much everything Laura isn't. She's clumsy and slow - the closest Laura ever got to sports was sitting in the bleachers, cheering on her best friend.

Despite their close call, which Laura totally blames herself for, Danny offers her a grin as she pushes her fiery red locks out of her face and secures her hair in a messy ponytail. She's pumped, her body running on pure adrenaline - and maybe, just maybe, the taste of Laura's lips. Danny is a survivor; she was born for this strange new world of horrors they find themselves in.

Danny Lawrence is also Laura's ex-girlfriend, and the kiss has a profound effect on her. The tiny girl's heart is beating like a humming bird's as she stares up at Danny in awe. She owes this girl her life (ten times over).

"You doing okay, Hollis?" The older girl is still grinning as she gives Laura a quick once over, making sure she isn't hurt. Apart from scratches on her arms from the barbedwire, and some rips in her jeans, Laura looks fine; except for the fact that she seems to be a bit catatonic. Danny's smile wavers as she steps in closer. "Laura?" She cups her best friend's cheek, her concern etched deep on her face.

"Fine." Laura mumbles. She covers Danny's hand with her own, savouring the touch for just a moment. Then she pulls away, letting Danny's hand drop back down. They can't go back there. With a cautious look over her shoulder at the dozen or so zombies straining against the other side of the fence, their jaws snapping violently as they carry on with their chorus of longing groans. Laura isn't sure how long the fence will hold up against the hoard; and she has no plans to stick around and find out. "We should get going."  
"Right." Danny nods in agreement. She clears her throat, already feeling the tension growing between them. It was stupid of her to kiss her ex, but it was the only thing she could think of at the time. "Hopefully the others did better than us."

Laura isn't sure how the rest of their group could have done any worse.

 

* * *

When they make it back to the main road, just outside the little town that houses the junk yard, and where they agreed to meet LaF, Perry and Kirsch, they find out that their day has been a relatively good one in comparison. Perry and Kirsch are both covered in guts and entrails. The smell is putrid, like festering meat, and both Laura and Danny have to hold their noses as they ask what on earth happened.

Perry is the first to answer, her tone sharp and clipped as she glares at LaFontaine. "We were cornered in a store, one of those little places for hiring tools, and _someone_ decided to push the...the _thing,_ in to a wood-chipper!" Perry refuses to say the word zombie; or walker, biter, corpse, or meat-bag - or any of the other colourful words that the rest of the group use to describe the undead that try to eat them on a daily basis. Two and a half months in, and Perry still refuses to believe that the recently dead are returning to life. Laura has lost track of the amount of times she's suggested alternate theories on the matter, from virus to fungal spores.

"I said duck!" LaF shrugs. No doubt this isn't the first time they've been reprimanded for their actions in the tool shop. They are noticeably clean; or as clean as any of them can be without showers and running water.  
"Bro, it was _sweet!_ " Kirsch, the last member of their group is grinning from ear to ear as he peels off his blood stained shirt. A former quarterback, he is a hulk of a man-boy. Kirsch is also a gentle giant. He reminds Laura of an overgrown toddler, easily entertained and distracted. Like Danny, he has took to this new way of life quite easily; though neither of them will admit, Danny and Kirsch have a lot in common.

They're both strong and athletic, and they would both risk their lives for every member of their group. Though, usually, it's Laura. The rest of their group were all juniors at their local high school, in a small town in Georgia. They were supposed to be going in to their senior year this coming fall, applying for colleges and looking forward to Prom and Home Coming; not fighting legions of the undead in a battle just to make it from one day to the next.

Laura is the baby of the group. The youngest and the smallest, everybody else seems to feel the need to take care of her. She hates it. Laura wants to be strong and brave, like Danny and Kirsch, or resourceful like LaF. She doesn't want to be the one who trips over her own feet when they're being chased by biters, putting the others at risk as they come back for her.

This plays on her mind as she sits crossed leg on the side of the road, waiting for LaFontaine to finish rigging a makeshift shower from a trash bag and a bucket of water from the nearby river. She sits on the other side of their truck, downwind from Perry and Kirsch, who both smell like an abattoir. Danny comes over to sit beside her, curling her long legs beneath her as she offers her childhood friend a strained smile and a bottle of mineral water.

"Thanks." Laura's voice is small and low. She tucks her hair back behind her ear, a nervous habit she's always had. Danny knows something is eating away at her. She and Laura have lived next door to each other for close to ten years, they've been inseparable friends, and even something more at one point, so she knows when something is wrong. She nudges Laura's shoulder with her own.  
"Penny for them?"

It's a ritual almost as old as their friendship, meant to make the other open up about what thoughts were plaguing them. It almost always works, but this time Laura is tight lipped. She shrugs Danny's concern off, mumbling that it's nothing. "Is it...is this about me kissing you?" The wound of their failed relationship is still fresh and raw for both of them.

After their break up, the only way for the two of them to carry on as friends was to compartmentalise, to pack away the memories of the six month relationship in the darkest recesses of their minds and simply never bring it up. Three weeks after their break up, the outbreak started. It was hard to work through their personal issues when the dead were walking around trying to eat people.

Laura was the one who had called it off - yet another thing she had managed to screw up.

Laura has always admired her best friend. When that admiration grew in to desire, she'd eventually admitted to Danny that she thought she might be gay. The redhead had been the first one Laura had confided in about her sexuality. Danny had taken her in to her arms, pressed a kiss to the top of her head and told her that everything would be okay. Danny herself had already figured out her own sexuality the year before, coming out as bisexual to her parents and the rest of her friends.

She's loved Laura for as long as she can remember.

"You looked like you were going in to shock, and it was the only way I could think of to-"  
"It was fine... It's fine." Laura tries to reassure her with a smile, but it doesn't reach her eyes. Danny hasn't seen Laura smile properly in months. Not since before her father vanished in a swarm of walkers right after her bundled his only daughter in to the back of Kirsch's truck and slammed the door behind her, ordering Kirsch to put his foot down.

_It's fine._

The word slices through Danny like a knife. It's what Laura said when they were breaking up. Danny had asked what was wrong between them, and why they couldn't carry on as they were. Things were finebetween them in her eyes. Laura's eyes had been wide and brimming with tears as she admitted _that_ was the problem. Danny was Laura's first girlfriend, her first ever relationship even. While Danny was head over heels in love with her girlfriend, Laura couldn't say the same. The literature lover had expected more from her relationship. She had expected her burgeoning feelings for her best friend to blossom in to love over time, but it had never come.

"Laura-"

"Okay, Summer Psycho, Little Hottie, we're ready to go!" Kirsch hollers at them from the front of his truck; a jacked up Chevy with 24 inch wheels and a full sized flat bed on the back. Danny bites down on her lip, resisting the urge to yell at Kirsch for interrupting. Laura hates it when her two friends argue, so Danny tries her best to keep a civil tongue, but it grows harder and harder with each passing day; especially when the group of teens are together pretty much 24 hours a day.

The unusual group were hardly close before the world ended. They belonged to different groups in school. LaF and Perry were the bookish type, taking all AP classes. while Danny had kept up steady a grades, she'd been more interested in the Summer Society, the girls athletics team at their high school. Kirsch was a Zeta, part of a fraternity of misogynists and evolutionary throwbacks that called themselves football players. The main connection between the four of them is Laura.

She might not be the strongest, or the smartest among them, but she's the gel that keeps the teens together. Laura is the heart of their group, the one who always looks for the best in people - Maybe that's why they all fight so hard to protect her. She reaches for Danny's hand and gives it a gentle squeeze, a silent request for her to play nice. Danny lets out a heavy sigh, but says nothing as she gets back to her feet and dusts off her jeans. There isn't much she wouldn't do for Laura.

The five teens climb in to Kirsch's truck, with LaF and Perry in the back, and Laura and Danny up front on the bench seat with Kirsch. Laura is sitting between the two rivals of course, to avoid any kind of physical altercation that may come up from their usual bickering. "It's going to be dark soon." Danny squints out over the horizon. The road they're on isn't as bad as some of the other major roads, which are littered with the broken down carcasses of cars and trucks; their owners are long gone, probably stumbling blindly down the same highways they were trying so desperately to escape on. "We should look for a place to bunker down for the night."

It hardly needs to be said. They've been doing the same routine for a month.

They've been moving from town to town, heading out west and taking what they need to survive. Going West is LaF's idea. They went over all of the tactical advantages of heading towards the mountains, looking for an area of high ground with a sparse population. No one else had any kind of plan after...after they lost Laura's dad. Laura tries not to think about the missing member of her group. Her dad, a park ranger, had been the only one of their parents to make it out of the town they lived in. He led them to Mistletoe State Park, near Augusta, where they set up a camp and Mr Hollis started to teach them how to survive in the wilderness. Things were great for the first few weeks; until the hoard came. The kids barely got out with their lives, and they lost most of their supplies, which were in the Hollis's Winnebago. Laura lost something far more important than water purifying tablets and matches. She lost her whole world.

She sits among her closest friends, feeling utterly and completely alone.

Tears prick at Laura's eyes and she does her best to will them away as she stares out at the road ahead of them. They're on the edge of the state, nearing Columbus and heading in to Alabama. It's taken them weeks to cross the state, using the less congested back roads and stopping for gas, food and shelter. Kirsch's truck guzzles gas like his old man used to down a six pack.

Kirsch's dad was an ass. Like Laura's mom, he died long before the outbreak of the plague of the undead, but unlike Laura, Kirsch wasn't that broken up about losing one of his parents. His mom was his everything, and Laura's dad had been more of a father figure to him than Carl Kirsch ever could have been. He misses Mr Hollis almost as much as he misses his mom.

"Eyes on the road, short-bus!" Danny snaps at him as fails to notice a deer jumping out of the woods that line the road. He swerves quickly, avoiding taking out Bambi's mom at the last second.  
"Chill, Bro! I got it!" Kirsch is getting real sick of Danny Lawrence and her attitude. If it wasn't for Laura, he probably would have kicked Lawrence out of his truck weeks ago. They've talked about getting a second car, but two vehicles means twice as much gas.  
"Oh, is that why we almost just wiped out?"  
"Guys..." Laura sighs, and that's all it takes for the two of them to drop it.

A heavy silence descends over the truck. They drive for another hour, passing through remote farmland with little signs of life. Danny figures they have another half hour before they lose the light completely. She doesn't want to have to search for walkers, wherever it is they bunker down for the night, in the dark. "Up there." Danny nods towards a lonely gas station at the top of a steep hill. It looks deserted enough. They haven't encountered many of the dead for the last twenty minutes, and the hill will give them a tactical advantage. They'll be able to spot a hoard coming towards them from a mile away.

"Cool." Kirsch nods in agreement - even though Danny isn't asking for his approval.  
"Good call, Danny." Laura smiles at her. She wasn't looking for her approval either, but she still feels a flutter of pride swelling in her chest when she gets it. Since they lost Mr Hollis, Danny has taken on the role of shot caller. Kirsch might bitch and whine about how bossy she is sometimes, but he doesn't argue as he takes the turn off for the gas station.

"Okay, LaF, Popped-Collar, and I will go check it out. You two wait here." It's always the same plan whenever they scope out a new place to spend the night. Laura and Perry always get left behind. Usually, this doesn't bother Laura. Usually she's quite content to wait in the relative safety of the truck, but not today.  
"It's a big place. I can help." Her offer to help is shot down as soon as she suggests it. A chorus of voices tells her how bad of an idea it is. "Look, I'm not a child! I'm perfectly capable of-"  
"Laura, how many walkers have you killed?" It's Danny's go to argument whenever Laura wants to do anything stupid these days. They both know the answer to that question is a big fat zero.

"Danny's only trying to look out for you, Laura." Perry tells the brooding seventeen year old as the other three pile out of Kirsch's truck, armed with an axe, two hatchets and a machete.  
"Whatever." Laura huffs. She's sick of leaving it to the 'adults'. Kirsch is only seven months older than her. If they go off maturity levels, then Laura might as well be seven years older than him.

The gas station is actually a lot smaller on the inside than it looks from the outside. LaF cracks a joke about it being a reverse TARDIS, but since they left Laura behind in the car there's no one there to laugh. The store's size works to their advantage. There's a counter on the back wall and just two aisles, running vertically to the door. The shelves have been picked clean, save for the odd They manage to sweep the store in under a minute, checking behind the counter and in the tiny employee lounge at the back. There's a unisex bathroom, a ratty old couch, a crooked wooden table with a few mismatched chairs and a bunch of metal storage lockers.

It's not much, but there are no windows, and other than the door leading in from the front, there's just a heavy metal fire door that is locked shut and chained. Danny takes in the metal lockers. They'll make a good barricade for the entrance door, and the key for the chain to the rear door is hanging on the wall. They'll have a second escape route if the front of the store is blocked. It might just be the safest place they've stayed in a while. There's not a lot of floor space in the employee lounge, but Laura and LaF are pretty small; they can make this work.

Danny and LaF fetch the girls from the truck, while Kirsch searches the shelves for anything they can use. By the time the others are huddled in the back room with their overnight supplies, Kirsch has already set up the camping stove on the table. It looks like they're having 'mystery meat' again; or they would be, if the ring-pull hadn't just come off in his big beefy hands. "Nice one, _bro!_ " Danny rolls her eyes at him. The overgrown man-child can't do anything right.  
"Chill, Big-foot. I got this." He offers her a smile that any other girl would find charming.

"What are you doing?" Danny scoffs as he drops down to the concrete floor and starts rubbing the top off the can against the floor. "Seriously, Kirsch, you're going to be there until breakfast! Just use another-" She stops abruptly as he squeezes the sides of the can and the lid pops off. "How'd you do that?" Her annoyance gives way to curiosity as she drops down beside him. She hates to admit it, but she's actually impressed.  
"Youtube." He shrugs, still wearing that goofy grin of his. "It only really works on concrete though, it's like science or something, bro."

"Laura! Quick, take a picture!" LaFontaine laughs as they nudge Laura with their shoulder and nod towards Kirsch and Danny sitting crossed legged on the floor. Laura manages a weak smile, but the sight of her two oldest friends getting along doesn't make her as happy as it usually would. She's still moping over Danny having to save her ass; _again._ She feels like a burden.

Later on, they're all staking a claim on a spot to sleep, and Danny comes over to help Laura unroll her sleeping bag. The damn thing always gets stuck in its cover. "I've got it." Laura huffs, refusing to look Danny in the eye as she carries on struggling with the offending sleeping bag. "Stupid thing...stupid, damn..."  
"Here." Danny's hands cover Laura's. Between the two of them they manage to wrestle her sleeping bag free from its cover.  
"Thanks." Laura mumbles, her cheeks burning with a mix of shame and anger. She's not angry at Danny though. She's angry at herself for being so damn useless.

"Hey, are we okay?" Laura's been expecting this all afternoon. Danny has that nervous look on her face, the same one she wore the first time she and Laura ran in to each other after their break up. She takes hold of Laura's hand again, loosely lacing their fingers together. Laura's eyes close over as her best friend's thumb runs idly over the back of her hand. Danny has the biggest heart of anyone Laura knows; life would be so much easier if she could just love her back in the same way. Danny deserves so much better.  
"Of course." Laura's voice is small and choked. Danny's thumb has moved and is now running across the inside of her palm, tracing intricate patterns in to her skin.

"Do you want to take the couch?" LaF and Perry have already set up camp under the table, and Kirsch is far too chivalrous not to give one of the girls first dibs on taking the ratty old couch. It looks older than Laura, but it will be far more comfy than the concrete floor.  
"Uh, we could...we could share it?" Laura suggests. She knows it's selfish and that she shouldn't be leading her ex on like this, but she can't force herself to give up the small comfort that Danny offers her in times like these. The other girl hesitates to answer. Laura doesn't miss the way her tongue darts out across her lips before she answers with a small nod. It really is a small couch. "Sure. We could do that."

Laura isn't the only selfish one.

They change for bed and it feels like a luxury. Laura can't remember the last time they felt safe enough sleeping somewhere and bothering to change in to pyjamas. It almost makes her feel _normal -_ Except for the that fact that she's bunkering down to sleep on an old couch in the back of a gas station, and Danny is stashing her trusty crowbar down the side of one of the cushions for easy access. They both have a sleeping bag each, but rather than climb in to their own they open them up and use them as blankets.

Danny lies on her side at the back of the couch, leaving Laura to be the little spoon. It's a familiar arrangement. "Are you sure this is okay?" Danny questions. Laura hadn't realised quite how close the other girl's mouth is to her ear, but she realises it now. She squeezes her eyes shut, thinking of all the reasons that this is a terrible idea.  
"It's fine." She reaches back and pulls Danny's arm around her waist. Behind her, Danny smiles.  
"Okay. Good." She lets out a deliberate sigh, blowing cold air over the back of Laura's neck. The younger girl squirms in front of her. Danny knows just how sensitive her neck is.

As exhausted as they both are, neither of them manages to fall asleep quite as easily as Perry and LaF, who have built their own little fort out of the dining table and chairs and a sheet. Kirsch is snoring loudly on the other side of the room. He's managed to find enough coats and uniform in the employee lockers to make himself a makeshift bed. Laura smiles at the sight; he really does look like an overgrown puppy.

"Laura?" She hears her name whispered softly in her ear and knows Danny is awake too; though the way she's been shifting and fidgeting for the last hour probably should have told her that. Laura doesn't answer. She tries her best to pretend she's asleep, but she should know she can't fool her oldest friend that easily. "I know you're awake." Danny's heart feels like it's pounding loudly against her chest, the room is so quiet that she's surprised Laura can't hear it. She bites at her lip, waiting for some kind of response.  
"Am not." Laura lets out a huff of air, still facing away from the other girl. A small smile tugs at her lips. The game is as familiar as Danny's arm draped protectively around her waist.

"Oh, really?" They've been friends long enough for Danny to know where this is going. What had started out as an innocent childhood game had changed once they were dating though. She dips her head, pressing her lips softly against the side of Laura's ear. The smaller girl's smile breaks through, but she makes no sound or movement to indicate that she is in fact awake. Laura has always been very good at this game; but then so has Danny. Her lips move down from Laura's ear, travelling along her jaw line and down to her neck. She knows Laura's weaknesses all too well. She props herself up on one elbow and kisses her way down to the hollow of the other girl's collarbone – where she lightly rakes her teeth over the sensitive flesh there.

"Danny!" Laura whines her name with a little laugh. It's a sound that Danny has missed so much. "That's cheating!"  
"Show me a rule book, Hollis."  
"Like you ever play by the rules..." Laura rolls her eyes, though her tone is light and good natured. Danny carries on kissing the side of her throat, and she shamelessly cranes her neck to give her better access. Danny takes her ex-girlfriend's lead and shifts from lying beside her, to lying on top of her. It's makes it that much easier to reach her lips.

Laura is nowhere near as passive about the kiss as she was back in the junk yard. Her lips move against Danny's with a substantial amount of enthusiasm, and she moves her hands up around her neck, pulling her down even closer. It's been so long since they've been like this, but it's practically engrained in to their muscle memory.  
When Danny's hand slips between their bodies, and up Laura's shirt, it's practically second nature.  
"Danny!" Laura hisses and grabs at her ex's wandering hand before it can push her bra up. Danny feels her heart sink. She should have known this was all too good to be true. She's probably dreaming. She'll wake up any second now and be back in her waking nightmare of a life. "Can we go somewhere a little more private?"

It's a good job they decided against the need to put the lockers in front of the door, it opens outwards anyway and there isn't much walker activity around these parts. Danny isn't sure she would have the patience to clear the door, not when she and Laura are already kissing as they stumble out in to the front of the store. The entrance to the back is located right behind the counter, and Danny backs Laura up against it. The tiny girl lets out a squeak of surprise and wraps her arms around Danny's neck as the gentle giant lifts her up on to the sales counter. She steps between Laura's parted legs, their lips never once breaking contact.

When Danny does pull away, it's only to place teasingly soft kisses along Laura's jaw. She moves down her neck, alternating between playful bites and sensual kisses. Laura's hands tangle in Danny's fiery hair, tugging a little at her scalp as the other girl finds that sweet spot in the hollow of her neck. "Danny..." Laura moans, a little out of breath from their make out session on the way to the front of the store. Danny glances up and catches her eyes closed over, her head arched back and her bottom lip trapped beneath her teeth. She's known Laura for almost ten years. She's loved her almost as long. Danny knows how turned on Laura gets when she kisses her neck. She knows that if she slips her hand under the waistband of her sweatpants, Laura will be soaking wet. Danny knows this for a fact. She smirks, gloating over the effect that she still has on her previous lover.

Danny has a problem with impulse control; especially when it comes to Laura. She climbs up on to the counter, taking them both by surprise as she pushes the other girl's shirt up. Soft, warm lips trail down Laura's stomach, and she actually whimpers as Danny's teeth graze against her hip. "Is this against the rules too?" The redhead muses as Laura bites down hard on her lip. She shakes her head just slightly, not trusting her own voice. She looks so hot when she's like this, and Danny really can't help herself as her hand slips under the waistband of her sweats. Laura's eyes widen, but she doesn't stop her.

Danny doesn't usually move so quick (especially with Laura) but it's been so long and part of her is terrified that the other girl is going to change her mind at any minute. She's smug as she finds she was right about Laura being wet already. She traces one finger through her slick folds, stalling just long enough for Laura to tell her to stop if she wants her to. She doesn't.

Danny leans in for another kiss as her thumb begins circling Laura's clit. Laura's fingers dig almost painfully in to Danny's shoulders, as one of Danny's slips inside her. She doesn't exactly have the smallest hands in the world, and Laura is almost as tight as the first time they had sex. She was the younger girl's first (her _only_ ) but Danny has been with a couple of girls - and one guy. She's always loved Laura, but it was a long wait for her best friend to want her back.

She gives her a few moments to adjust, before adding a second finger and slowly starting to move them inside Laura. "Is this okay, Baby?" Even as desperate as she is to reacquaint herself with her ex girlfriend's body, Danny doesn't want to rush her. She doesn't want to hurt her.  
"Mhmm..." Laura arches in to her touch, aching for a little more friction from her thumb. She can't remember the last time Danny called her _'Baby'._ She's missed it. There are a lot things she's missed.

When Danny gives in to her silent begging, pressing her thumb down a little harder against her core and picking up the pace with her other two fingers, it doesn't take long before Laura comes. Danny kisses her, trying to muffle the sounds coming out of her mouth. Laura has never been good at being quiet. The former lovers lie on  
the counter, both breathing hard and content to stay as they are a little longer. "Wow..." Laura sighs out, the puff of air blowing against the side of Danny's cheek. "That was...wow."

"I don't remember saying I was finished." The older girl purrs in Laura's ear, setting off a flurry of butterflies in her stomach. Danny moves without any further warning, hovering over her and tugging Laura's pants down.  
"Oh, wow, that's cold!" Laura yelps as she brings her hips back down and her bare backside touches the counter. She probably would have shot right off the counter if Danny hadn't been kneeling between her legs, a hand on each thigh. Realising what she's planning on doing, Laura's eyes go wide. "Oh, wow..."

"God, you're so cute." The older girl chuckles as she brings her mouth down. Laura shivers in anticipation when Danny's warm breath hits her already sensitive core.

It's going to be a _long_ night.

 

* * *

Perry is the first one awake in the morning; just as she is most mornings. After pressing a kiss to the side of a sleeping LaFontaine's cheek, she busies herself with making breakfast. Perry has always had an old head on her shoulders. She fell in to the role of the group's de-facto mother with ease. She checks over her wards while she fetches the powdered egg from their bag of dwindling food supplies. Kirsch has finally stopped snoring, and for a moment Perry worries he may have died in his sleep. She doesn't worry for long when he lets out a sudden grunt and rolls over on to his side.

Laura and Danny are curled up on the couch in the corner, tucked comfortably under two sleeping bags. Danny lies on her back, with Laura's head resting on her chest. Even with the blankets covering them, Perry can tell that the older girl has her arms wrapped lovingly around her ex. They both look so peaceful. It makes Perry happy. They all deserve a little bit of peace after the last few months, Laura even more so.

"Perr?" LaFontaine is awake not long after her, missing the warmth of their girlfriend beside them. They run their hair hands through their short, unruly, ginger locks. It sticks up at all angles and Perry can't help the small smile that graces her lips at the sight of them just waking up.  
"Good morning, Honey. I'm making breakfast!" Perry is the eternal optimist among them. She's always looking on the bright side. LaFontaine, meanwhile, struggles with mornings; at least until they've had their first coffee. Perry sets about boiling some water on the camping stove.

The rest of the group wakes up over the course of the next hour. Laura is the last to wake up, but that's no surprise. She and Danny only managed to get a few hours of sleep. None of them are in any particular hurry to get back on the road. It's not like they have any specific place to be. They all enjoy a breakfast of coffee and scrambled eggs, thanks to Perry. Laura sits crossed leg on the couch, struggling to hide how often she is yawning; while Danny sits beside her, wearing an all too smug grin.

They share sly glances and knowing looks all morning while they pack up to leave. Danny desperately wants to ask what's going on between them, but she doesn't want to jinx it. Losing Laura once was hard enough, she can't take her best friend rejecting her twice. She's more than willing to take things on Laura's terms though; even if it means taking it slow. Danny's already been playing the long game for years now anyway.

"So what's going on with you and Danny?" LaFontaine doesn't tend to beat about the bush. They're possibly the most direct person Laura knows. The two of them are throwing rocks at tins cans lined up on a wall next to the store, while the others take stock of their limited supplies. They're going to need to go scavenging for food again soon. LaF's question comes just as Laura is taking her throw; it goes wide and shatters one of the windows of a car parked in the lot of the gas station. Laura winces and looks around, almost like she's expecting the owner to come running out and tell her off. LaFontaine shakes their head and lets out a small chuckle. The world as they all know it has ended, social order has all but broken down, and Laura is worried about being shouted at for breaking a window.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Nothing is _going on_ with us. We're friends. We've always been friends...really, _really,_ good friends." Laura tends to ramble when she's nervous.  
"Me thinks the lady doth protest too much!" LaF smirks, seeing right through her. They take one of the rocks in their hands and toss it at the car that Laura has already vandalised. It goes straight through the windscreen of the beat up old Volkswagen.  
"Again, no idea-" Laura's second wave of denial is interrupted as Danny appears and shouts at them both for making too much noise. LaFontaine points out that Danny herself is making _plenty_ of noise, but just gets an eye roll back from the taller redhead.

Laura shrinks in on herself, her cheeks burning up. "You're so whipped." LaF takes great delight in pointing this out to her as they jog back over to the truck. Stuck up front in Kirsch's truck, the two former lovers don't get much of a chance to talk about what happened between them last night. Danny takes the way Laura keeps squeezing her hand as a good sign though. Maybe the universe is finally cutting her a break; lord knows she deserves something good in her life right now.

They're driving for about an hour before they encounter any problems. For once, it's something much easier to tackle than the death and destruction they've been facing lately. They stop at a train crossing where the barrier is down. The train track bisects the road horizontally, leading out across a steep ravine where a river cuts in to the landscape below. "I'll get the barrier." Danny is the first to volunteer. Laura is the second. She tries to talk the pint sized teen out of leaving the car, but the barrier will open easier with two of them, so in the end she has to concede.

"Hey, Danny?" Laura starts as they approach the train crossing.  
"Yeah, Babe?" It's a slip of the tongue, a throwback to happier times. Laura doesn't bother correcting her though, her smile actually grows wider as she tucks her hair back behind her ear.  
"I was thinking, uh, after last night and everything...um...do you maybe want to...maybe-"  
"Laura Hollis, are you asking me out?" Danny sounds so smug and confident as she crosses her arms over her chest and smirks at Laura; inside she's a hot mess, praying that she hasn't picked things up wrong.

Laura knows her best friend all too well. Danny's trying to act cool and nonchalant about the whole thing, so she tries the same. Moving to lean against the fence post for the barrier crossing, she offers her ex-girlfriend a coy smile. "Maybe I- agghhhhhhh!" Laura misses the post by a mile. She lets out a yelp as she falls to the side, expecting to hit the hard ground; it isn't much of a relief when she keeps on falling.

"LAURA!" Danny screams as the tiny girl disappears from sight. She's not the only one to see Laura go over the edge. Kirsch is out of the truck the second he sees her miss the fence. The two of them reach the edge of the ravine at almost the same time.  
"Shit! What happened?" Kirsch's expression probably looks a lot like Danny's, but she doesn't put much thought in to it, not when she can see the love of her young life lying at the bottom of a cliff. Laura isn't moving. Kirsch is rambling on beside her and she can't make out a word he's saying. Her eyes are fixed on Laura; Laura who isn't moving.

Danny's lips are dry. Her mouth is hanging open and her stomach feels like it's just gone over the edge right along with Laura. She can't lose her. She can't lose the only person she has left. "W-what are you doing?" Danny is suddenly snapped out of her daze as Kirsch starts to follow Laura over the side of the cliff. She grabs for his shirt, acting out of instinct rather than any concern for his safety.  
"I'm helping Laura!" he shoves her hand away. "I got this! I used to climb with my bros! Get in the truck and drive down! Go!"  
"Danny!" LaFontaine grabs her from behind, and they're pulling her back towards the truck. Kirsch has already disappeared over the edge before she's even back on her feet.

Laura is pretty sure that falling down the side of a fifteen foot ravine should probably hurt more. It wasn't like she dropped straight on to the rocky shore of the river, there was a lot rolling and flipping involved. Laura isn't sure whether that's better or worse. She's lying on her front, her face lying to the side and her eyes staring vacantly at the river. There should be more pain.

Laura's eyes close over and she starts to panic. Right now it feels like the only thing she has control over is her face, and she's even starting to lose that. "Dad..." She croaks out. She really wants him there. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knows he's gone, just like her mother; just like everyone else. Laura hears Kirsch calling out to her from somewhere above. He tells her everything is going to be okay, that he's almost there. It doesn't matter. None of it does. Laura can't keep her eyes open.

She can hear the groaning of the emancipated corpses that are shuffling closer towards her from the riverbank. There are three of them in total; Laura wouldn't stand a chance against just one of them. She should be terrified. She should be screaming. She's isn't. She doesn't feel afraid; she doesn't feel anything.

That probably means something - Laura's just too tired to figure out what.

A shadow falls over her, acting as temporary rest bite from the glaring Alabama sun overhead. Laura isn't sure if it's Kirsch or the walkers. It's hard to tell the difference between the lumbering teenager and the walking dead. She loves Kirsch, she really does. They grew up four houses apart. She's tutored him since she was ten (even if he is a year older than her). He taught her how to throw a football properly...He was her first kiss. Laura isn't exactly proud of that lost one, but Kirsch is her best guy-friend. He's not the one standing over her.

The stranger kneels down beside her, glancing cautiously up at the lumbering gorilla that is climbing steadily down the cliff face. His back is to the river, his focus fixed on finding a safe way down without ending up like his friend here. There's the rumble of a truck in the distance, probably more help on the way. If she's going to make her move, then she's going to have to make it fast. It won't be as easy to take the girl if her friends show up. Sighing, she run her fingers across the broken girl's jaw; it's almost a shame it had to be her.

"Well, aren't you in a pickle, Cutie?"


	2. Chapter 2

The drive down to the river takes too long. Danny is almost glad that Perry is the one behind the wheel; she probably would have just driven right over the edge by now, if it meant she gets to Laura quicker. She clenches her fists on top of her knees, resisting the urge to just yank hold of the wheel. ' _Kirsch is with her'_ She keeps telling herself over and over again, hoping to make it down to the riverbed without driving them straight in to the water. Usually this thought would do nothing to settle Danny's nerves, but she knows that for all his many faults, Kirsch would do anything to protect Laura - They all would.

"I see Kirsch!" LaF sits up in their seat, pointing at a hunched over figure by the waterline. It's the first thing either of them have said since Perry floored the gas pedal. Danny feels her stomach drop. Her eyes are glued to Kirsch. He's on his knees, staring at something down in front of him, Danny can't make out what it is; his hulking great form is blocking her view. His shoulders are shaking. His head is bowed – Danny can't breathe.

The truck has barely skidded to a stop on the dirt road when Danny is jumping out. She sets new land speed records as her long, powerful legs propel her towards the water; towards whatever it is Kirsch is hiding from her. "Danny!" LaF and Perry both call after her, having already spotted what their fearless leader fails to see. There is blood everywhere. A trail of it runs from the bottom of the cliff, where Laura fell, all the way to the water's edge. LaFontaine has to look away from it as they spot what looks suspiciously like a spleen, laying on some of the jagged rocks. They stop running, tugging on Perry's hand with a shake of her head. They all know how this is going to play out; Danny's the only one who hasn't figured it out yet.

LaF and Perry's warning shouts startle Kirsch, kicking him in to action. He stumbles to his feet with red, bleary eyes, like a drunk on a Friday night, and holds his hands out to stop Danny in her track. "Lawrence, stop!" He goes to grab at her, but Danny has seen him playing plenty of times. She fakes to the left, then shoulder checks him on the right, knocking him off balance. He drops to the rocky ground, mud and clay staining his already ruined jeans.

As quickly as he falls, he's back on his feet again, grabbing at Danny's waist. The screaming starts just before he spins her around, pulling her in against him and wrapping his arms tightly around her waist. She struggles at first, pounding her fists down against the back of his broad shoulders, but by the time Perry and LaFontaine reach them, Danny's rage has subsided and grief has completely overcome her. She slumps against Kirsch, his arms around her waist the only thing keeping her up.

"Don't." Kirsch's voice is stronger this time as the others approach the scene of devastation that Danny has just ran head on in to. "You don't want...you don't want to see her like that." Through all of this, Kirsch has prided himself in having a pretty strong stomach. He saw his kindergarten teacher, Mrs Shaw, ripped in to four separate parts, her eyes still blinking and her mouth open in a silent scream as walkers tore her apart.

Laura had taken that pretty badly. She'd still been puking all down the back of his football jersey as he'd given her a fireman's lift to his truck. He closes his eyes, trying to breathe through his mouth. He tries to think of happier times, to block out the last image of Laura he will ever have. He thinks of the first day she moved in to the street, how his mother had dragged him over to meet the new neighbours. An eleven year old Kirsch hadn't wanted to go over and play with a _girl;_ girls were boring and stupid.

Laura had been anything but.

A whimpering noise reaches his ears, and it takes Kirsch a moment to realise it's actually coming from him. Danny Lawrence has her arms wrapped so tightly around the back of his neck that it's a miracle he can still even breathe. Danny is the last person on earth that he would ever turn to for comfort, but his knees give way and they both slump to the ground, quietly crying and holding each other. Perry goes to them, while LaF takes a deep breath and summons the courage to walk towards what Kirsch was guarding.

LaF can see the whole scene clearly. They can carefully analyse it in their mind, from the blood trail at the bottom of the cliff, to what they're looking at right now, to the two walkers that are lying dead nearby. Their skulls have been caved in, probably by the heavy bloodstained rock sitting beside one of their heads. There's not doubt the walkers are truly dead now. Nothing remains of their faces; and Kirsch has blood and guts all over his hands and clothing. LaF feels a little numb as they carry on staring at the mess in front of them. They just can't connect Laura (cute, funny, loyal, tiny gay Laura) with what they're seeing. If it wasn't for the remaining shreds of Laura's sky blue, button down shirt, then LaFontaine would refuse to believe it; Laura Hollis is dead.

They feel the contents of their stomach threatening to make a reappearance, but shouting from behind them startles LaF. They turn around to find Danny standing there, slapping Kirsch around the head and screaming at him. He's still on his knees in front of her, putting up absolutely no defence at all. "Hey!" LaFontaine shouts as Perry gets in the way and Danny pushes her. LaF sees red. They have few triggers, but one of their best friends is dead and the other just pushed their girlfriend, and none of this is cool. "What the fuck, Danny!" The Amazon like girl stumbles back, almost shocked that LaF has managed to move her.

"He fucking _let_ Laura die!" It doesn't take long for her to recover. Danny isn't great at expressing her feelings, she never has been; only Laura had the privilege of seeing her softer side. She doesn't do grief and sadness, she does anger; _lots_ of anger. The teen makes a move to go for Kirsch again, who is still kneeling pitifully in the dirt, but both LaFontaine and Perry get in her way this time.

"Not cool, Danny! Kirsch did his best...we all did." They add the last bit in a softer tone. This isn't so much about Kirsch. Danny blames herself. She blames herself for Laura going over the edge, for letting kirsch be the one to climb down the side of the cliff face; for not being there for Laura when the walkers came.

"His best wasn't good enough, was it?" Danny spits, glaring daggers at the football player. They've never been that close. Laura might have been the thing that brought them together, but at the same time she was the source of their bickering; each jealous of the attention that Laura paid the other. Danny knows she doesn't need to push the knife in any further, Kirsch is beating himself up about it enough; but it feels easier to blame him than to own up to her own shortcomings. She should have made Laura stay in the car. She should have taken better care of her.

"Danny!" Perry chastises, playing her part as the voice of wisdom. She's upset too, but as the one who knew Laura the shortest (and the only one not to catch sight of her remains), she's handling her grief a little better than everybody else. She places a hand on LaF's shoulder, needing the physical contact to keep her voice strong and steady. "This isn't anybody's fault. It was a terrible, and horrible, _accident_. Laura wouldn't want us arguing like this. She would want us to come together and-"  
"You know what Laura would want, Perry?" Danny snarls at the other girl, getting right up in her face. "She'd want to be a-fucking-live!"

* * *

Pain. Immense, searing, pain all over.

Laura preferred it when there was no pain. When there was nothing but the darkness. Everything hurts. She tastes blood at the back of her throat, and her stomach lurches. Her eyes open, but the darkness is still there; and the pain. So much pain. It feels like she fell from a cliff. Something about that registers as funny with her. She tries to laugh, but the sound comes out gargled and choked. She coughs, some of the blood going down the back of her throat. The taste is vile, like she's swallowing old pennies; though that's hardly her biggest concern right now.

She's lying on her back. Her sense of spacial awareness has flooded back to her and she realises she is no longer lying face down in the mud, the heavy scent of clay in her nostrils. Laura doesn't know why she thinks she should be lying in the mud. She can't think of much right now - other than the pain. It's mostly centred in her chest. It feels like her ribs are broken and each laboured breath she takes sends out a wave of pain throughout the rest of her body. The blood is still dripping slowly down her throat. Laura doesn't know where it's coming from, but she knows it's going to choke her if she doesn't do something.

The tiny teen tries to roll on to her side, but she doesn't get very far when the pain stops her. There's also the soft pressure against her chest, which seems to work in tandem with the hand at the back of her neck, as she's laid back down. "Easy, Cupcake. Got to take your medicine." The foreign voice is a soft purr beside her ear. Laura doesn't have the first clue what is going on. All she knows is that, as the blood carries on seeping past her lips, the pain is finally starting to ease off.

She stops fighting and gives in to the darkness; it pulls her under before she can question why she has blood on her lips.

 

* * *

"This looks as good a place as any." Perry stops the truck outside a hay barn in the middle of nowhere. It's the only building they've passed in over an hour, and it's getting dark again. They haven't made much progress. It was late afternoon before they even left the river. Danny had sat by the water's edge all afternoon, practically catatonic and staring at nothing. Kirsch had eventually trudged over to the truck to fetch a collapsible spade.

It took him hours to dig a hole in the hard, southern clay. He was sweating and panting by the time he had a hole deep enough to count as a grave. There wasn't much left to bury, but Kirsch had to the decent thing; he owed Laura that at least. Once the makeshift grave had been filled in, he went off in search of some flowers to put by it.

The gentle giant had still been in shock for most of the afternoon, and in no fit state to drive. Perry had jumped in the truck and took them in search of somewhere to spend the night. She and Danny are sitting up front, with Kirsch and LaFontaine in the back. Barely a word has been spoken between any of them in hours. "Good job, Perr." LaFontaine gives her shoulder a squeeze of encouragement. "Why don't me and Kirsch go clear it?"

"I've got it." Danny has the front passenger door open before any of them can answer. She's gripping the iron crowbar in her hand so tightly that her knuckles are going white. Nobody tries to stop her. Kirsch and LaF just file out after her, trudging towards the barn. The light is already fading overhead, casting an ominous shadow over the teens and the truck.

There are chips in the paintwork of the old barn, with some bits completely faded from years of bathing in the scorching Alabama sun. The scent of manure and decay assaults Danny as she reaches the door. There's a rusted padlock and chain holding it shut. Danny imagines some ancient farmer locked inside – Shut in by a family who love him, who were praying for a cure right up until the end. She almost hopes there's something inside as she smashes the lock open. Danny Lawrence is itching to kill something.

"Fuck..." The second the lock is broken Danny realises her mistake. The smell she picked up on earlier overpowers her as the door begins to creak open from the inside. Inside, there is indeed the corpse of an old withered man, who probably owned the barn at some point before all of this started. The corpse starts lumbering towards her. His arms are outstretched, his pale, rotting skin, stretched tightly over his old bones, is the colour of off milk.

The man's fingers are knotted, and curled over like claws as he swipes at the air where Danny had stood half a second ago. The old man's movements are slow and jerky, his arthritic joints struggling to support the extra fifty or so pounds he's carrying around his waist. Danny takes him out with one clean strike to the head. He goes down, but the crowbar gets stuck. His sheer size almost takes Danny down with him, and she has to put a boot to what's left of the dead man's face to pull the weapon free.

The crowbar finally gives, just as the second walker reaches her. She can feel it's clammy fingers wrapping around her wrist, and hear the guttural groan coming from the thing's throat. Danny can't work out whether the corpse was male or female when it was alive. The body is so decayed that it's impossible to tell. Another swift blow of the crowbar and the walker's head comes free from it's shoulders. It bounces grotesquely along the ground, it's teeth still gnashing together.

"Sick." Kirsch finds the sight of the decapitated head so disgusting that it breaks his silence. He slams the sole of his hiking boot down against it, grimacing as his foot goes through the thing's head like a knife sinking through hot butter. He doesn't have long to dwell on it. The barn door swings fully open, and a stream of hungry walkers start shuffling towards the teens. "Shit, Bro!"

The battle is a complete slaughter. There are at least a dozen walkers, and Danny has already taken out five by the time LaF and Kirsch have dealt with one a piece. Danny's jaw is clenched shut, her expression one of grim determination as she eviscerates the torso of a man twice her size. She's not even aiming for the head. She's taking her anger out on these things and they all know it.

There's too many of them for Danny to be playing games, and too much at stake. LaFontaine looks back at the truck, where Perry is anxiously hunched up in the front seat; probably thirty seconds away from having a panic attack. "Danny! Stop messing around!" They snap at her, just as the sumo that she's taking on knocks the crowbar from her hand.

"Fuck!" Danny snarls. It's the only word they've gotten out of her all day. Ignoring the discarded metal bar, she starts pummelling the thing with her bare hands. By the time the others have taken care of the last few walkers, Danny is straddling the dead man she was wrestling with earlier, smashing her fists over and over in to his face. He's long past dead, but Danny doesn't stop. It feels good to let it all out. Not even the pain of the fresh cuts in her knuckles, or her aching muscles cramping up, can stop her. Her fists are hitting right through to the ground by the time Kirsch grabs hold of her waist, trying to pull her away.

It's a stupid move. She swings around and one of her fists lands a blow to the side of his head. With the weight of the struggling girl in his arms, and the shock of the sucker punch, he goes down hard. Danny doesn't stop there. Consumed by grief and anger, she brings her knee up, viscously striking him in the chin as he tries to get back up. Kirsch's head reels backwards and slams back against the compacted dirt in front of the barn. A grunt is ripped out of his throat as Danny's boot connects with his stomach. He curls up, bringing his knees up to his chest to protect himself. The sight of the six foot footballer player curled up on the ground would have been laughable, if it wasn't for the fact that Danny was trying to kick the crap out of him.

"Hey!" LaF grabs on to Danny's arm, knowing they don't have the height advantage that the other teen does, but they've got to do something to try and stop her. Kirsch tries to block her attack, but he doesn't raise a hand to strike her. LaF has seen him take out guys the size of professional football players before. He could easily stop this with a couple of punches of his own, but he doesn't even try. He's barely even defending himself. "Danny, stop! You're hurting him!" LaF's voice goes shrill as they scream at their friend to stop, but her pleading falls on deaf ears as Danny pulls free and carries on with her assault.

"Why. Aren't. You. Fighting. Back?" She punctuates each blow with an attempt to kick him. Kirsch blocks most of them, but one gets through, connecting hard with his ribs. The blow winds him a little, and it's harder for him to react when he gets to his knees and Danny starts slamming her fists down against his shoulders. Eventually something snaps inside of the gentle giant. His lip curling back in a snarl, he pushes past the pain he's in and lunges at the girl. LaF screams for Perry to come help. They have no idea what they're girlfriend can possibly do that they can't, but the sight of Kirsch body slamming Danny to the ground has them hyperventilating.

Danny isn't fazed, even when the back of her head hits the ground hard enough to rattle her brain. She actually seems happy that she's finally gotten a rise from him. Kirsch doesn't strike her though. He straddles her waist, pinning her arms across her chest in front of her and using his superior weight to keep her down. "I'm not going to fucking fight you, Bro! You're a girl! It's totally against the bro code!" Danny laughs in his face, still writhing beneath him in an attempt to tip him off her. It's a lost cause. Kirsch is over six foot of solid muscle and his knees are planted firmly on the ground, while he holds on to Danny's arms like a football he just can't afford to fumble and drop.

The struggling pair are illuminated by the headlights of Kirsch's truck. His short cropped hair is slick with sweat from taking on the walkers, and there's a cut above his eye that's dribbling blood down the side of this cheek (thanks to Danny). He's breathing hard as he tries to compose himself. He would never let a dude lay in to him like Danny had. Hell, he isn't certain he'd be able to stop himself hitting back if any other girl tried to beat the crap out of him; though he's pretty sure he doesn't know any girls that even _could._

Danny has always been important to Laura though, and that makes her important to Kirsch too; even if he can't stand her. He let's out a shaky sigh, his ribs groaning in protest. "Laura's gone, and that's my fault! I wasn't quick enough...I couldn't save her... You can blame me for that as much as you want, you can even beat the snot out of me, but I _won't_ hit you back, Danny! And I'm not going to let you go off and get yourself fucking killed, either!" The others wait with baited breath as he eases back, letting go of Danny's wrists. She closes her eyes over and gives him a small nod. It's the closest to a truce she'll offer.

Kirsch is silent as he gets to his feet and walks towards his truck. Perry and LaF offer to help Danny up, but she brushes their attempts off. Getting slowly to her feet, feeling a little dizzy and possibly concuss, she stumbles inside the barn, looking for a place to lie down. "Danny! Danny, we don't even know if it's clear!" Perry shouts after her. She's answered with a loud grunt and the sickening _squish_ sound that can only come from piercing a walker's brain.

She drags the now still walker, an elderly woman with only one leg, outside the barn and drops her next to the other bodies. She bends down to pick her discarded crowbar back up from the ground.  
"It is now."

Danny stomps back inside. Perry gives her partner a knowing look and trails after the other girl. LaF is left to check on Kirsch. He's fussing about in the trunk of the car when LaFontaine puts a weary hand on his shoulder. They have to stretch a little to make it. "How you doing?"  
"All good, bro." Kirsch answers with his usual boyish smile, his eyes are dull though, almost as lifeless as a walker's. He turns back to the first aid kit he's been rummaging through and pulls out one of those ice packs that activate when you squish the bag up, along with some sterile wipes and butterfly stitches. His hands are shaking as he tries to unwrap the antiseptic wipe. LaF takes it from him and goes about playing doctor. "Thanks, dude."

LaFontaine shrugs it off. They've gotten quite good at providing first aid in recent months; though they're pretty sure this isn't what Perry had in mind when she suggested they take that course last year. Kirsch winces as they drag the alcohol wipe over the gash above his eye. There's dry blood crusting over his eyelid, and his ribs feel like someone's taken a sledgehammer to them. Once LaF finishes with the butterfly stitches, closing the mostly superficial cut over, he tugs his bloodstained shirt over his head. He's already changed once today – he just couldn't stand walking around in a shirt covered in Laura's blood.

He wraps an ace bandage around his ribs and pulls his shirt back on. It's covered in blood and soaked in sweat, but it's not like he smells any worse than the walkers that litter the ground around the barn. He catches LaFontaine looking at him funny, and shoots them a curious look. "What? Bro, do I smell _that_ bad?" He raises his arms, to sniff at his armpits, but regrets it as he feels a painful tug on his obliques.

"No, dude. It's just..." LaF runs a hand through their hair, brushing it back in a messy quiff. "You're like my hero, you know that, right?" Kirsch gives them a puzzled look. He isn't known for being particularly intelligent or anything, and he and LaF aren't that close; so he's struggling to figure out what they're talking about.  
"Huh?"

"I've seen you take out two-hundred and forty pound quarterbacks without breaking a sweat! You could have stopped Danny from hitting you at any time...you could have hit her back; but you didn't." There's immense pride shining through LaF's eyes, and Kirsch feels himself starting to flush. He gives them another shrug as he kicks at the dirt.

"Mom always said not to hit girls." There's something so bashful and childlike about the hulking football player. They love that about him. He picks up the icepack and shoves it in to his front pocket. After that, he and LaF climb in to his truck and drive it on in to the barn for the night. The farmland is quite open and exposed, and the navy blue truck would still out like a sore thumb in the surrounding landscape. None of them want to draw any unwanted attention to themselves; or wake up to find their ride has been jacked.

Kirsch backs the truck up against the barn door, which is the only way in and out, save for the hatch up on the second level. It should keep them safe for the night. They all start unpacking their over night bags, pulling out sleeping bags and looking for spots to sleep, except for Danny. She sits up in the hay loft, her legs hanging over the side and her eyes glued to her hands. The skin over her knuckles is cracked and raw, marred with dried blood; some of it hers, some of it not. She's so absorbed by the sight that she fails to notice Kirsch dropping his stuff by the truck and climbing the wooden ladder that leads up to the loft.

The first time she realises he's up there, he's sitting down beside her, letting his long legs dangle over the edge next to her. She tenses, expecting him to start calling her out for being such a bitch earlier. Kirsch surprises her by pulling out the ice pack from his pocket. He crushes it in his huge hands, activating the pack and then offering it over to Danny. She takes it without a word, pressing it against her swollen right hand. The pain is excruciating, but somewhere at the back of her mind she knows she deserves it. She has no idea why Kirsch is being so nice to her.

In typical Danny Lawrence fashion, she asks him right out.

"For Laura." He answers in a quiet voice. The sound of her name stings them both.  
"She's dead, Kirsch. Like _dead,_ dead. It's not like she cares." Danny lets out a huff of air, wishing he had just left her alone to brood. Laura has been gone for less than twelve hours, Danny still hasn't had a chance to grieve properly.  
"But...maybe she's still with us. You know, watching over us...in heaven."

Danny lets out a scoff. "What are you, five?" She scowls at him, finding his childlike faith more annoying than endearing. "She's not in heaven, Kirsch. What's _left_ of her is in the ground. There is no heaven! And there sure as fuck is no God either! If there was some almighty deity up there, then they would never let someone like Laura die like that! ...He would have taken me instead." There it is. The thing that's eating her up inside. Why couldn't it have been her?

"Maybe not." Kirsch shrugs again, and she really wants to sock him in the arm to stop him doing that. She doesn't though. She can see from the way he's holding himself that he's already in pain, and the cut above his eye is a glaring reminder of what she's already done to him. Danny hangs her head in shame, wishing the ground would just open up beneath her and swallow her whole.

"But maybe there is. I guess my Mom _made_ me go to Sunday school, and I'm not like _super_ deep, bro...but what's the harm in thinking that, like, just maybe, there is something better when we die? Hedge your bets, you know?" It's hardly the philosophising of _Descartes or Kant,_ but Danny's got to admit, it's a pretty good way to think.

"I guess you're right." She pulls her knees back up to her chest, holding her injured hand and the ice pack against them with her good one. It kills her to say the next part, but she knows it's the least she owes him. "And I guess you're mom did a pretty okay job with you. Most guys would have lost their shit with me." Kirsch chews at his lip, seeming to ignore Danny as she tries to extend an olive branch towards him. She can hardly blame him.

After a beat, he lets out a sigh. "Yeah, well...my dad was a real ass. That kind of helped too."  
"Oh..." Danny has had heard stories of Kirsch's dad, though Laura always scorned her for listening to gossip. Carl Kirsch was a mean drunk, and rumour has it that his wife was a dab hand with a tube of foundation. Danny doesn't know what to say. Everything she thinks of sounds clichéd, or just plain bullshit. She settles for offering the icepack out for Kirsch to share with her; that cut on his head really does look sore. He accepts it with a small 'thanks'.

She gives his fingers a gentle squeeze, starting to see why Laura is always defending him. "You're a good guy, Kirsch."

 

* * *

The second time Laura regains consciousness, the searing pain has dulled to a constant ache. This is only marginally better, but at least when her eyes open she can actually see something this time; and what she sees is breath taking. The young woman leaning over her is all pale skin and dark curls. Laura thinks she might still have some kind of concussion, because she almost can't resist the urge to reach up and run her fingers along the girl's sharply defined jaw. Her eyes are so dark that they're almost black, though they soften a little once they notice Laura's own eyes are open. "Hey, looks who's finally awake."

The stranger takes a seat on the stool that sits beside the cot Laura is lying on. It looks like they're in some kind of small hunting cabin. Made up of only one room, there's the door at the front and a single window on the opposite side of the room from where Laura is lying. Light streams in through the window, filtered by a length of camouflage netting that's stuck to the window frame, casting strange patterns of light on to the floor.

The metal cot creaks in protest as Laura tries to sit up. She instantly regrets it as her vision starts to blur and her head feels like it's been put in a blender. "Whoa, easy, Cupcake. No sudden movements, okay?" The other girl moves the threadbare pillow, which had been supporting Laura's head, and places it against the wall to help prop her up.

"Thanks." Laura closes her eyes over again, trying to wait out the dizziness. Her lips feel dry and cracked, and her throat is bone dry. She opens her eyes again as she feels something cold press against her lips. The stranger holds an open bottle of water out for her, and helps Laura to take a few sips. "Thank you...uh, not that I'm not really grateful, but who the hell are you?"

Laura's memory was a little fuzzy when she first woke up, but bits and pieces are starting to come back to her. She remembers the rail crossing and the cliff, missing the fence post and tumbling down. She remembers lying at the bottom of the ravine, her body cold and numb; Laura shudders at the memory. She's pretty sure she should be dead right now.

"Carmilla." The other girl answers, her lips curling up in to a confident smirk as she looks Laura up and down, like she's some kind of prize steak. Laura shifts a little uncomfortably, looking around the small cabin again, and wondering where the hell Danny and the others are. "I'm the person who saved your life, Sweetheart." Laura's sense of discomfort isn't going away. There's something about the way the girl, Carmilla, had announced that; with an air of expectation.

"Well...thanks for that." Laura nervously pulls the thin blanket that's lying over her legs up to her chin, suddenly feeling the chill in the air. Her shirt is missing, and she's sitting in just a tank-top and her jeans. "Um, the people I was with...my friends. Are they here too?" Laura doesn't have the first clue where _'here'_ is. She feels a lump forming in her throat as Carmilla looks away, and down at her hands. She waits a beat, just long enough for Laura's heart to start pounding in her chest, and slowly shakes her head from side to side.  
"You were alone when I found you...There was a big guy beside you-" Her voice is soft, laced with unspoken pity.

"Kirsch!" Laura's eyes widen and her heart sinks at the implication. She can feel tears pricking at her eyes as she chokes back a strangled sob.  
"There were walkers all around the two of you. I think he was bitten, he must have..." Carmilla doesn't finish. She doesn't need too. Laura gets the picture. One of her oldest friends is dead because of her; because of her stupid clumsiness.  
"What about the others?" Laura manages to pull herself together enough to ask. She's met by a small shrug.

"It was dark when I found you, Creampuff. I didn't see anybody else. If you fell from that crossing up top, then the road down is pretty long, it's easy to miss the turn-off for the river." Carmilla is well versed in lying, the words come as easily to her as breathing – She'd been lucky to smuggle the broken girl in to the woods, and cover up her tracks, without any of her friends ever noticing.

Carmilla had made sure to make it look like walkers had reached the girl before the lumbering gorilla that had been climbing down to her rescue. It had been easy enough. Of the three walking corpses stumbling towards them, one had been a small blonde girl; it was hardly a perfect likeness, but Carmilla hadn't left enough of the body for it to be suspicious. The pièce de résistance had come from Carmilla ripping up the fallen girl's shirt, just to make sure there was no doubt among her friends that the remains were hers. Carmilla had tossed the rest of the walker in to the river, letting the water wash the evidence away for her.

Carmilla's new acquaintance is none the wiser to what she's done to get her here; or what she'll do to keep her.

"They could still be looking for me... I need to get back there! I need..." Laura tries to get out of bed, and ends up almost face planting the floor. Carmilla catches her with ease before she can do any real damage. Laura's legs feel like jelly, her head is still spinning and her her whole world has just come crashing down around her. Kirsch is dead. Danny is gone. "I have to go..." She's still fighting to sit up as Carmilla places her back on the cot. The other girl is deceptively strong, having taken Laura's weight like she was nothing more than a ragdoll. She has no idea where she is, how for it is from the crossing, or even _where_ the crossing was, but she needs to get back there; back to Danny – and Perry and LaFontaine too.

"Easy, Sundance. This cabin is five miles out from where I found you...besides, you've been out for like three days." Carmilla dashes any hopes Laura might have about finding her friends again. There is no contingency plan for if they get split up; none of them ever even thought to consider it.  
"No, no, no..." Slumps forward on the cot, cradling her head in her hands. This can't be happening. She can't have lost the only people she's got left.

Laura stiffens as she feels a hand on her shoulder. "Look at it this way, Cupcake. You're still alive. That's got to count for something these days, right?" It's hardly the most comforting thing Laura has ever heard, but she has to nod in agreement. She's still breathing, that's something.  
"It's Laura, by the way." She sniffles as she rubs at her eyes, wondering just how many tears she's got left in her.  
"What is?" Carmilla frowns as she takes her post back on the stool by the cot. She's wearing a khaki button down shirt, over leather pants and biker boots. She doesn't look like any survivor that Laura has ever met; the _striking_ young woman doesn't look like _anyone_ Laura has ever met.

"Uh, me...my name. I'm Laura. Laura Hollis." She feels a little silly as she holds out her hand to the other girl. There isn't exactly a manual that covers introducing yourself to the person who saved your life. Carmilla struggles to hide an amused smirk as she leans in to take it. Instead of shaking the teenager's hand though, she brings it up to her lips, her dark gaze burning in to Laura's shell shocked face. Humans are so amusing to her. She's glad she decided to save this one; instead of draining her dry like she'd first contemplated. She thinks this Laura Hollis could be an interesting distraction on her way back to Silas; back to Mother.

"Pleasure to meet you, _Cutie._ "


	3. Chapter 3

"I hate to burst your bubble, Creampuff; but your plan sucks." Carmilla is starting to realise just how much she's underestimated this tiny human girl. She spared Laura's life because she figured she'd be easy to control, now her unwitting captive is getting ready to walk out the door. Carmilla needs to fix this. Mother is expecting her back any day, and she won't be pleased if Carmilla shows up empty handed. "You fell from a  _cliff_  four days ago. You've got no supplies, and no idea where your friends are. It's suicide, Cupcake."

Laura has her back to her rescuer. She's only spent one day with the girl, or at least one day of actually being conscious around her, and she already dislikes her. She grits her teeth, ready to snap if she hears one more of those pet names. Carmilla's right though. She's fixing to head out in to the woods with absolutely nothing; not even a shirt on her back. She'd asked about where her button down had gone, but the other girl had simply shrugged and offered her an ' _I had slightly more important things to worry about than what you were wearing, Cutie.'_

"Like I told you earlier, they're going to Montana. There's a county up there, it's the fourteenth least populated place in America. There are plenty of hills, it's near the Yellowstone river and there shouldn't be many walkers up there. We figured we'd drive up and just figure it out, you know?" It had been oh so easy to talk about, huddled up in the relative safety of the Winnebago with her friends and her father. That seems like a lifetime ago now. "We'll figure it out..." Laura repeats it, mostly to reassure herself. She just has to make it to Montana; back to Danny and the others.

"Sure, you just need to make it more than halfway across the country first, avoiding walkers, bandits, serial killers and rapists. Simple enough." Carmilla's voice is dripping with sarcasm. Laura feels her stomach churn as she stares at the locked door of the cabin. She's been so consumed with worrying about the dead of late, that she's almost forgotten just how dangerous the living can be too.  
"How do I know  _you're_  not a serial killer?" Laura argues, folding her arms across her chest and trying to stand up straight; it's a vain attempt to make herself look a little taller, more intimidating.

It fails miserably as Carmilla laughs at her. She's spread casually out on the cot Laura has spent the last four days lying in. The other girl is only marginally taller than Laura without her boots on, and she's so slim that a strong wind could probably knock her over. There's something sinister about her smile though, as her lips curl up in to a devilish smirk. "I never said I wasn't. I've killed hundreds of people, Poptart...maybe even thousands." She shrugs her slender shoulders and Laura feels a single cold beat of sweat run down her back.

Carmilla laughs out loud again, and the tension is broken. "I'm just messing with you. Do I seriously look like I could kill anybody? Hell, I can't even stand killing those walking corpses out there." She nods to the world outside the little hunting cabin. It's all lies of course. Carmilla revels in this new world order, in being able to show her true character without punishment. The only real downside of the apocalypse is the lack of satellite television and the competition she had her kind find themselves facing when it comes to their food source.

Carmilla has spent weeks in these godforsaken woods, snacking on whatever measly morsel comes her way. Usually it's the sick or the dying, the ones who won't make it anyway. Carmilla is practically doing them a favour. The human girl in front of her though, is fit and healthy; and very much alive. If Carmilla plays her cards right, she can feed from the girl all the way home, without Laura being any the wiser. At least that had been the plan. The teenager is less than docile than she expected. "Ha ha, very funny...so what do you suggest we do?"

There it is. Hook, line and sinker.

Carmilla carries on with her demure demeanour as she sits up on the cut, tucking her knees up to her chest. A good predator knows how to appear smaller, less threatening than they really are. She just needs to try and cut back on the snark and the attitude with the other girl; though it's hard to break the habit of a lifetime. "I'm not saying my plan is much better than yours...but strength in numbers, right?" Laura nods, oblivious to the fact that Carmilla is drawing her further in to her web. She's had centuries of practise at this kind of thing. The teenager takes a seat on the stool by the bed, without even really thinking about it. "I'm trying to get to Nebraska, back to my home town...and my mom. I figure we can find a car, get some supplies and drive north. You can take the car and the supplies from there and keep going to Montana if you want to." Carmilla shrugs; like the human will even have a choice.

Laura bites nervously down on her lip. She's still not sure what to make of Carmilla. She seems to be the kind of person her father would have told her to stay away from. Laura likes to think she can trust her instincts, and right now they're telling her to probe deeper. "Were you down here for school or something?"  
"I'd just finished my freshman year at Stanford, my little brother William was finishing out his last year of high school. We decided to go down to Mexico for a vacation, goof around." Carmilla shrugs again. She keeps her voice low, lets it crack a few times for good measure. "We were due back to the states the day the National Guard closed the border. It took a while, but we made it in to Arizona. We were heading back home with a group of other Americans, when..." Carmilla's eyes close over. She worries she might be milking it, but when she opens them again, she finds Laura staring at her with rapt attention.

"We got separated. I guess I'm still hoping I'll find him waiting at home for me." She could care less what Will is up to, but she needs to play the doting sister if she wants to win the human girl over. It works. Laura leans over, placing a hand on Carmilla's knee.  
"I don't mean to be harsh, but how do you even know your town will still be there? I mean, I've been on the road for weeks now, and I've seen a lot of empty towns."  
"Silas isn't most towns." Carmilla answers, knowing the other girl has no idea how true that really is. "It's so small you won't find it on any maps. It's on an island in the northern province, the only way on to it is across a bridge, that makes it easy to defend."

"It sounds...safe." Laura sighs. Weeks of skittering from one place to another, and having to constantly look over her shoulder, have left her tired and weary. Carmilla's home town sounds a lot more reachable than some mythical county, far away in Montana – but Laura isn't ready to admit that she's lost her friends for good. "Alright, we can travel together; as far as Silas. Then I'm going on to find my people."

"Whatever you say, Cupcake. If we want to find a car we should get moving before we lose the light." The dark has never bothered Carmilla before. Her senses are actually heightened without the light, but she needs to sound cautious. Scared. Human. She picks up a duffel bag, which contains all of her worldly goods, and throws the strap over her shoulder; it's more than Laura has. "Here." Carmilla reaches in to the bag and pulls out the first thing she lays her hand on; it's a man's navy blue, zip up hoodie and it drowns the smaller girl. Laura thanks her for it anyway, turning it up at the bottom and rolling up the sleeves. Carmilla makes a mental note to prioritise finding food and water, and all that other stuff that humans need. She had her fill from the frail, old man who owned the cabin they've taken refuge in, but that was days ago and she can feel the familiar pangs of hunger in the pit of her stomach.

 

* * *

 

"It's time we hit the road. We've wallowed around here for long enough." It's taken a few days, but Danny has finally pulled herself back together enough to start leading them again. They've been at the barn too long, attracting more and more walkers with each passing day. It's time to get moving again, carry on going north. No one argues with Danny – and nobody points out that they've been the ones waiting for her. They pack up their stuff in relative silence as they prepare to move on. It seems so much quieter without Laura around, constantly chatting away and trying to pull them all together. Her absence is noticed more than ever as the teens all climb in to the truck; there's a noticeable gap up front, right in-between Danny and Kirsch.

Danny swallows hard as she tears her gaze away from the spot where Laura should be sitting. "Are you going to drive, or what?" She snaps at Kirsch, her voice wavering. He doesn't bite back, just shifts in to gear and pulls out of he barn. It's real early, and the sun is hanging low in sky, seemingly intent on blinding the young driver. Kirsch reaches in to the glove-box for his shades, a pair of aviators that Danny has made many a  _Top-Gun_ joke about over the years. With his sunglasses on and one arm hanging out of the rolled down window, Kirsch can almost pretend that things are okay. Driving distracts him, it keeps his mind from wandering to things he doesn't want to think about; like the fact that they aren't really  _going_ anywhere. There's no plan. There's nothing waiting for them in Montana; just more walkers and more misery.

Kirsch's grip tightens on the steering wheel and he locks his jaw. He can't let himself think like that. Laura is gone, but he still has three people counting on him to keep them safe. They have to keep on going; even if Kirsch can't see the point right now. His Mama always told him that God has a plan for everyone. Even as her final days approached, she had been quoting  _Revelations,_  insisting that all of the chaos in the world was just ' _The big guy upstairs cleaning house'._ Evelyn Kirsch had died safe in the knowledge that she was going to a better place. Despite the words of reassurance he'd offered to Danny the night of Laura's death, Kirsch wasn't so certain anymore. He was having a crisis of faith, and there was no one left for him to talk to about it; his mother was gone and that last he'd seen his pastor, the man had been  _eating_ his elderly neighbour, Mrs Bambrough.

"Hey, Space Cadet! I said that might be worth checking out." Danny snaps her fingers in front of him, trying to get his attention.  
"Huh?" He looks to where she's pointing and sees another gas station. The tank is a little over half full, but it can't hurt to stop and fill up. There might be food and other essentials in there that they can use too. A lot of the places they've tried recently have already been picked clean, and it's getting harder and harder to find enough to keep them all going. "Uh, yeah. Good call..."

 

* * *

 

"How have you  _not_ been eaten by zombies yet?" Carmilla demands, letting out an infuriated sigh. They've been walking through the woods for hours and they've barely made that much progress. Laura keeps insisting on stopping to rest every twenty minutes or so.  
"I'm sorry, how many cliffs have you fallen from recently?" Laura snaps. She's really starting to dislike her rescuer. Carmilla is brash and demanding, and she isn't the type to keep her opinions to herself. She's not the kind of person Laura would  _pick_  to spend time with, but beggars can't be choosers. She's with the other girl to survive, not for chit chat. Ignoring Carmilla's glares, Laura takes a seat down on a fallen tree trunk. Her ribs still ache a little bit, and she's getting out of breath much easier than normal. Carmilla rolls her eyes at her – humans are such fragile things.

She tosses the younger girl their last bottle of water, waving off Laura's attempts to share it with her. "I'm good, Cupcake." She needs to find more provisions, fast; and not just for Laura. Her new human friend is only alive thanks to Carmilla's own blood, which has left the vampire weaker than she'd like to be.  
"You haven't had anything to drink in hours!" Laura argues, not willing to give up quite so easily.  
"Don't I know it." Carmilla grumbles under her breath, but her attention is already fixed on something in the distance.

They've been heading through the woods, towards the I-65. Carmilla figures that if they can find a car, then they can get on the interstate and make it all the way to Tennessee without encountering too many problems. Something metallic glistens up ahead, just beyond the tree line. It looks like they might have actually caught a break. "Come on, Princess. Your carriage awaits." Laura grumbles about needing five more minutes, but she gets up and follows after Carmilla anyway.  
"What now?" She snaps impatiently when the older girl suddenly stops just short of the dirt road, where a battered old Jeep Cherokee sits abandoned; or at least it looks abandoned to Laura.

Carmilla knows different. She isn't the least bit surprised when a walker comes lurching around the back of the Jeep, attracted by the noise of the two girls trampling through the undergrowth. "Oh." Laura shrinks back, hiding behind the other girl. "Have you, uh, killed many of those things?"  
"More than enough. How about you?" Carmilla already knows the answer, it's written all over Laura's face. She's terrified of the middle-aged corpse that is slowly but surely making its way towards them. "Now is as good a time as any to start." Carmilla reaches in to her duffel bag and pulls out a small hatchet.

She holds it by the blade and offers the handle up to Laura. Her eyes widen as the realises the implications. "Me? No, I can't. I..." She shakes her head from side to side, stepping back away from the weapon like it's a live rattlesnake.  
"You want to make it to Montana on your own? Then you're going to need to be able to handle yourself, Cutie."  
"Can't I just get the next one?" Laura feels sick to her stomach as Carmilla presses the wooden handle of the hatchet in to her hand, closing her fingers around it.

"Sure you can; but you're  _starting_ with this one." Carmilla walks her through it. There's just one walker, there's plenty of space for Laura to manoeuvre and she's got Carmilla there as backup. "You've got this, Creampuff." She squeezes her hand, and Laura feels a flutter of something else in her stomach. Before she can think about it, the other girl is shoving her towards the tree line and shouting to get the zombie's attention.

Laura's initial instinct is to pull back, but Carmilla's hand is at her back, urging her on. "Easy." Her mouth is right by Laura's ear, and it's so damn distracting that she almost drops the hatchet. "One quick blow to the head, that's all it takes." She makes it sound so easy, just like all the times Danny tried to show her. Everyone else seems to be able to look at  _things_  that have overrun their world and just see faceless corpses, but Laura can't. She looks at the man, with his plaid shirt and khaki shorts, and sees someone's son, someone's husband...someone's father. This man was once a person, with hopes and dreams, and a family that loved him; all of that still matters to Laura.

"It's you or him, Kiddo.  _He_ won't think twice about it." Carmilla's hand wraps around Laura's. Without warning, she pulls the hatchet up and then slams it down, the blade connecting with the dead man's skull. He twitches for a second, his eyes wide and unseeing. Then he drops. Carmilla removes her hand from around Laura's and the hatchet follows the man to the ground. "See, that wasn't too-" She doesn't get a chance to finish as Laura spins around, facing away from the corpse, and starts heaving.

Carmilla is already inspecting the contents of the Jeep by the time Laura straightens up. She wipes her mouth with the back of her sleeve, cringing as her eyes land on the corpse again. She side-steps the body and makes her way over to Carmilla. "Looks like we landed on our feet." The other girl is grinning as she rooks through their haul. The back seats are folded down and the rear of the car is stuffed with enough supplies to keep a family of four going for a month; it should be more than enough to last them until they reach Silas. Regardless of what Laura may think, neither of them are going any further than that.

"I wonder who all this stuff belongs to." Laura's voice has a faraway quality as she runs her hands over a pink sleeping bag. It looks brand new. There are still tags on it. "And what happened to them..." Carmilla has a pretty good idea what happened, but she keeps the fact that the scent of blood still clings to the upholstery to herself. Laura doesn't need to know what happened to the family who owned this car before them.  
"Does it matter? It's ours now." She shrugs indifferently as she climbs up front. A string of obscenities leaves her mouth as she realises the keys are missing. "Sit tight, Cupcake." Climbing back out, she casually walks over to the body of the man Laura just killed, and starts to rifle through his pockets.

She finds the keys in the back pocket of his jeans, along with a handgun tucked in to his waistband. Carmilla nods in appreciation when she finds the clip still full. She's willing to bet there's more ammunition somewhere in the car. "What's that for?" Laura eyes the gun warily as Carmilla puts it down on the dash. She's never been very comfortable around guns. Carmilla wants to answer with her usual sarcasm, but she can tell the tiny teen is already close to her breaking point.

"Protection." She answers plainly. With a turn of the key, the engine roars in to life and begins to give off a content purr. Laura pulls on her seatbelt and Carmilla tries not to roll her eyes – this girl is just too much.

 

* * *

 

 

" _Good call_ , Lawrence!" Kirsch whispers from under the counter of the store next to the gas station they stopped at. It's an almost comical sight, the two teens are both over six foot tall and they're squished together, hunched under the counter up front. LaFontaine wins the prize for most ingenious hiding place though; they're lying on the bottom of one of the shelving units, half a dozen zombies blindly stumbling past them.

The coast had been clear when they'd first slipped in to the store – until Kirsch had inadvertently kicked a can across the floor. A single walker had come from somewhere up the back of the store. Danny had been all set to take it on, when another four or five came lumbering from out back. LaF had dropped under one of the shelves and Kirsch had dragged Danny behind the counter. On top of being outnumbered, they didn't have the space in the store to take them all on safely. Fighting them in close quarters only increases the chances of getting bit. "Now? You want to do this now?" Danny hisses back.

"Yeah, I do! Seeing as I'm probably gonna be dead in like two minutes!" Kirsch grumbles. He shifts under the counter and hits the top of his head against something just behind him. "What the... Oh, man! Sweet!" His eyes light up like Christmas has come early. Danny starts to ask what he's so happy about, when she spots what he's looking at.  
"Dibbs!" She calls, a little too loudly, but Kirsch already has hands on the assault rifle that has been taped to the bottom of the counter top.  
"God bless America." He grins as he cocks the bolt action rifle, chambering a round.  
"Do you even know how that thing works?" Danny huffs, a little disappointed that Kirsch spotted it first.

He looks it over for a minute before surprising her with, "It's a Ruger Compact, five shot capacity... I know my guns, Bro."  
"Just try not to shoot LaFontaine."  
"What?" They her LaF shout out from across the store, drawing some of the nearby zombies towards them. "Shit!"  
"Stay down!" Kirsch jumps to his feet, the stock of the Ruger pressed against his right shoulder, and orders his friend to stay hidden under the shelves. With a gentle squeeze of the trigger, the walker closest to LaF's hiding place goes down. Kirsch breeches the spent cartridge, loading the next one just in time to take out a stray zombie that is hovering dangerously close to the counter. He fires off all five rounds, taking down four of the walkers; one of the shots goes wide and just skims the cheek of an elderly woman in a sun-dress.

Between them, he and Danny take out the last two walkers by hand. Danny uses her trusty crowbar and Kirsch uses the butt of the rifle. When it's all over and done with, the two teens drop to the floor, exhausted by the scuffle. Danny's heart is racing in her chest, and she hates to admit it but a little part of her loves the violence and the carnage of this new world. She swallows hard and starts counting the ceiling tiles, trying to calm herself down. She can't let the others see her lose it. She's supposed to be leading them now. LaFontaine crawls out from their hiding place and dusts themselves off with a heavy sigh. "Well that was fun." They shake their heads at the scene of blood and gore around them. The store has already been raided, so there isn't much left on the shelves. It seems like a lot of risk for little reward.

"Yeah." Danny lets out a nervous laugh, glad to hear her voice sounds steadier than the rest of her feels. "Where'd you learn to shoot like that, cowboy?" She has to admit, she's more than a little impressed with Kirsch. The overgrown boy blushes and ducks his head bashfully, playing it down.  
"Dude, you grow up in Georgia, you learn how to shoot." He shrugs like it's no big deal – like he hasn't just saved all of their lives.

The three teenagers jump as the door flies open. A wild looking Perry appears at the door, her eyes quickly scanning over the scene before she rushes to LaF. She throws her arms around them, almost knocking the teen to the ground. "Are you okay? I heard gunshots! I was so worried!"  
"So you came running  _towards_  the sound of gunfire?" LaFontaine cocks their brow, but Perry ignores their blatant sarcasm, choosing instead to carry on inspecting for any injuries. Danny averts her eyes at the sight of the happy couple. Memories of Laura flood over her, threatening to pull her back under again.

She gets up and puts some distance between her and the others. Walking over to one of the fridges, she pulls out a bottle of Pepsi and pops the cap off using her hand the edge of the door-handle. The soda is tepid, but it's the first one Danny's had in weeks and it tastes so good. She can practically feel the sugar rushing through her body.  
"Pepsi? Who even drinks that." Kirsch reaches past her and helps himself to a can of Coke.  
"Diet soda? Are you watching your figure there, Princess?" Danny's lips curl in to a smile around the neck of her bottle as Kirsch rolls his eyes.  
"Does this body look like it gets full fat soda?" He retorts, pulling his soiled shirt up to reveal a washboard stomach. Danny makes a snort of disgust, pushing him away with her free hand.

"Okay, hotshot. How about you put some of that muscle to work and start helping me get some of this stuff in the truck?" The four teens spend twenty minutes loading the trunk with everything they can find, from canned goods to painkillers. This includes filling the truck up from one of the gas pumps, along with two plastic fuel containers. They don't find anymore shells for the rifle, but Kirsch takes it anyway, figuring it can't hurt to have a gun around; even if it is empty. Danny is the last one out the store. Her backpack is crammed full, and it makes a suspicious clanking sound as she puts it down beside her on the front seat. Kirsch gives her a quizzical look, which she meets with a glare. "What? It's just soda" The lie comes easily; she's glad Kirsch doesn't actually ask her to prove it.

She just needs something to take the edge off – something to keep the monsters at bay.


	4. 4

"So that guy you were with...was he your boyfriend or something?" Carmilla's question comes out of the blue. It catches Laura off guard. She's been sitting watching the road pass by for the last couple of hours and, in all of that time, Carmilla hasn't even attempted to initiate anything that could be considered conversation. She gives the younger girl a sidelong glance, waiting for an answer.

"Kirsch? No, he's... he was, my neighbour. We grew up a few houses apart. We kissed once, but it was on a dare." She's been quiet for so long that Laura doesn't seem to be able to stop talking. She knows she's rambling, but talking about Kirsch makes her feel a little better; even if she's always going to be talking about him in the past tense from now on. "Our parents always thought we'd end up getting married and having kids, but Kirsch was never my type. He was cute and really sweet, but I only ever had eyes for Danny..."

"Sounds like a lucky guy." Carmilla's offhand remark reminds Laura that she knows nothing about this girl. It might not be a good idea to out herself in front of someone she doesn't know in the slightest. Growing up in such a close circle of friends, with loving and supportive parents, Laura hadn't had to put much thought in to coming out – even if it was only a couple of years ago. It seems like a lifetime ago now. Maybe, in a way, it was.

Sensing an opening, Laura fired off a question of her own. "What about you? Do you have a guy waiting for you back home?" Carmilla's only answer comes in the form of that knowing little smirk of hers; which is no real answer at all. She keeps pressing, trying to get to know her rescuer a little better. "Okay, so what's Silas like? Other than small and out of the way?"  
"Silas is..." Carmilla starts, but then stops to mull the answer over. Laura doesn't miss the way she chews at her lip, her eyes fixed on the road ahead, but not really seeing it. "It's home. It's safe." She shrugs, not really knowing what else to say.

"That's descriptive." Laura huffs, giving up on trying to keep the conversation going. Carmilla watches her out of the corner of her eye as the teenager sulks a little lower in her seat, her arms folded across her chest. She mentally kicks herself for getting too invested, but she asks the question anyway.

"What was home like for you then, Cupcake?"

The other girl's face lights up at the question. She actually sits up straighter in her chair. "Okay, so I grew up in Shakespeare, Georgia. It's one of those quaint little towns that hasn't changed much since the fifties, like our house  _actually_  had a white picket fence." Laura's grin is widening the more she talks. Carmilla finds it hard to keep her eyes on the road when the tiny human is being so animated beside her. She thinks it might be the first time she's seen Laura smile. "Danny lived next door, and Kirsch lived down the street, and we used to do the usual stuff that kids do, play hockey in the street, crack open the fire hydrants in the summer...I guess we still did all that stuff last summer actually...This year would have been our last summer all together. Danny, kirsch and Perry were all going to be going off to college... and me and LaF were going to be left behind." That simple fact had been the cause of much contention when she and Danny had still been together.

"I guess that was one of the reasons why I ended things with Danny." Laura has no idea why she's admitting this to Carmilla, it's probably the first time she's even admitted it to herself. "I left her before she could leave me." If Carmilla notices her slip of the tongue, then she doesn't say anything. Laura's eyes are tearing up again. She rubs furiously at them, angry with herself for getting word vomit in front of the other girl. She expects some snide remark from Carmilla. Instead, she's surprised by something pretty close to compassion.

"I know what that's like... You get so used to people leaving, you just start pushing them away first."  
"Sounds like you had a Danny of your own?" Laura pushes her luck, hoping to keep Carmilla talking.

She doesn't bite.

Instead, her attention is fixed on an overturned school bus, which blocks the road ahead of them. It's lying on its roof, it's rear end smashed in to the metal guard rail on the right hand side of the road. Carmilla, who up until then had been cruising at a steady speed of fifty, slows the Jeep right down to a crawl. They're not far out from Montgomery, near Deatsville. If the interstate stays as clear as it has been, then they'll make it to the state line by nightfall; that is if they don't have to turn around and take a detour because of the school bus.

The car lurches to a stop a few yards short of the obstruction. Carmilla drums her nails against the steering wheel, like a regular commuter stuck in rush hour traffic. Her nails are polished black; the paint is chipped in places, and the colour is a stark contrast to her alabaster skin. She hasn't fed since she snacked on the dying owner of the cabin, and that was four days ago now. She's feeling weak, and irritable. She should have fed again by now; but Laura has been glued to her side ever since she woke up. Carmilla knows it's too soon to try and feed from her, and they haven't come across any other survivors. Humanity is spread so thinly now. What is left of it has gone in to hiding.

The human race has finally figured out isn't at the top of the food chain – that it never was.

"Should we maybe turn around and try to double back?" Laura can see murky shadows moving from inside the bus. The shapes in the windows have no real distinguishable figure from this distance, but their tiny stature betray what they once were. Bloodstained fingers claw hungrily at the cracked glass. Laura has no choice but to look away, or else risk bringing up those Oreos she ate for lunch. Luckily, Carmilla has a stronger stomach.

"Wait here." There's a hard-edge to her voice as she pushes her door open. Laura watches her walk confidently towards the bus that blocks the road, and the horrors that wait inside of it. Carmilla may only be a few years older than her, but Laura knows there is a world of difference between them. She can see it in the way the other girl carries herself; everything about Carmilla screams of self-certainty and attitude. She doesn't so much as flinch when one of the shadows lurking near the front of the bus flings itself at the door.

Its once innocent face is contorted in to something of abject horror as it's mouth hangs open in an eternal scream, it's dislocated jaw hanging on by tendrils of thick, sinewy muscle. Carmilla watches it closely as she walks right up to. Separated from it by a thin sheet of glass, she is reminded of the first time she saw sharks in an aquarium. Like the sharks, the feral things inside are stirring at the scent of blood. It isn't Carmilla's that they want though. The milky white eyes that are staring back at Carmilla do not see her; the dead don't interest the dead.

Carmilla glances over her shoulder, checking on the cause of all the commotion from within the bus. Laura sits hunched over in her seat, gripping the dashboard with a terrified expression, her eyes never leaving Carmilla. The vampire offers her a cocksure smile. There's nothing out here that she needs to worry about. Walking past the front of the bus, she inspects the small gap between the concrete central reservation that divides the opposing lanes of traffic. It will be a tight squeeze, and they might lose a wing mirror or two, but they'll make it. The other side of the northbound lane looks pretty clear as far as Carmilla can see, which is definitely farther than any human ever could.

Heading back to the Jeep at a leisurely place, she slides back behind the wheel. "Glad to see you've still got your belt on, Cutie. You're going to need it." That's all the warning Laura gets before Carmilla shifts in to gear and slams her foot down on the accelerator. The car shoots forwards, heading straight for the small gap at the front of the bus. Carmilla is driving so close to the concrete barrier, which separates the north and southbound lanes, that there are sparks flying from the wheel rims. The Jeep tries to lurch to the right, but the vampire is strong enough to keep it hugging the concrete wall; they're practically driving at a right angle to the road.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god..." Laura is gripping her seat so hard that her nails are digging right in to the leather upholstery. The tiny human is terrified. Her heart is going ten to the dozen in her chest; Carmilla struggles not to dwell over how sweet all of that fear must be making her blood right now. It takes only seconds for them to come up on the bus, the sides of both vehicles smashing in to one another. For one glittering nano second, Carmilla thinks they might just make it; but then the Jeep is tipping to the right again and she's powerless to stop it.

The roof gets wedged under one of the large side-view mirrors of the school bus, and the wheels carry on spinning without actually getting them anywhere. "Fuck!" Carmilla curses loudly, her foot still flooring the accelerator, like she can force the Jeep through by sheer stubbornness alone.  
"Uh, Carmilla?" Laura is distracted by something just outside her window. She tugs urgently on the older girl's arm, and gets an irritated snarl back.  
"What?!"

Laura doesn't have to answer. Carmilla can see the milky eyed zombie, which was previously trapped on the bus, pressed up against the passenger door. It's palms are flat against the glass, and its vacant eyes are fixed on Laura. In life, the walker had been a fourth-grader. His messy blonde hair hangs limply in front of his eyes, caked with grease and dry blood. He's wearing an  _Adventure Time_  t-shirt, and for some reason this alone is enough to break Laura's heart. She feels tears welling up as she stares out at the lost little boy – He isn't alone.

Behind him, more walkers are piling off the bus; the impact from the Jeep having dislodged the jammed door that was keeping them in. Their size makes them look like a hoard of murderous pygmies, intent on smashing their way in to the car. Carmilla weighs up their options as Laura shifts over towards her, trying to put as much distance between herself and the window as possible.

Abandoning the car and all of their supplies isn't an option. They won't stumble across such a haul by accident again. Carmilla could probably take out the pint-sized walkers if they weren't all pressed so close up to Jeep; and if she didn't have a captive audience. She's going to have to take care of their little problem like a human would. "Okay, Cupcake, sit tight." Snatching the gun off the dash, Carmilla opens up the sunroof and slips through it.

The dead that surround the car take no notice of her – Laura is there intended prize.

* * *

"Okay, so final count. We've got: Four cans of tuna, six cans of soup, three cans of mystery meat, a kilo and half of white rice and a bag of M&Ms..." LaFontaine announces their pitiful haul from the gas station. It hardly seems worth all the risk.  
"That's crap." Kirsch slams his hands down against the steering wheel, like a toddler having a tantrum. Beside him, Danny doesn't flinch. She's been quiet and withdrawn ever since they left the gas station. It's becoming abundantly clear to her that they've only survived this long through dumb luck. They need a better game plan, and they need it fast.

Surprisingly, Kirsch is thinking along the same lines as her; and he's the first to come up with a suggestion. "We need to start thinking smarter, bros! Stores are full of people, more people equals more walkers, right? And a lot of places are already picked clean."  
"So what do you suggest? We look for a farmer's market?" Danny's tone is dry and scathing. She knows Kirsch is talking sense, she just doesn't like this shift in their dynamic of late. Danny is used to being the one who takes charge.  
"Dude, farmer's markets only happen on weekends, duh!" Kirsch rolls his eyes at her, and Danny is about to rip him a new one when she feels Perry's hand on her shoulder.

"Danny, sweetie, play nice."

"We need to try some place we know there'll be a lot of food and not too many walkers." Kirsch carries on, oblivious to the verbal beat down he's just narrowly dodged. "I think we need to start looking in houses."  
"Isn't that a little, well, ghoulish?" Perry turns her nose up at the suggestion, while looking to LaFontaine for backup. They tactfully avoid her gaze, their silence speaking volumes.  
"It is, but it's also brilliant." Danny takes Kirsch's side, and it's settled – Democracy in action.

They're parked up by the side of the road, only a few miles away from the gas station. Danny is sitting up front as usual, with her feet up on the dash (despite Kirch's constant grumblings). She pushes her hair out of her face and ties it back up again. "Houses have more than just food and water, there'll be clothes, blankets, other useful stuff. I'm with Kirsch on this one."  
"Nice, bro!" Kirsch holds his hand up for a high five from her, but quickly draws it back when she leaves him hanging. "...Whatever."  
"We should stick to homes in small towns. We're less likely to run in to a hoard that way." Danny starts to feel slightly more in control again as she formulates a plan. She needs something to work on, something to keep her mind busy.

They're all too run down and worn out to attempt to put their new scavenging plan in to action today, so Danny decides that they'll start fresh in the morning. "You know, there's like loads of hours left until it gets dark. We should do something, something fun." Kirsch offers. They've all been through a lot lately, it won't hurt to give themselves some time off.  
"Something fun?" Danny shoots him a look. "Are you serious?"  
"Yeah, bro. We've been working our asses off, we deserve some fun! Back me up here, dudes." He turns in his seat to look at LaF and Perry, hoping they'll agree with him. They both shuffle uncomfortably as Danny turns around too.

"Wow, I'm suddenly reminded of every road trip my family ever took." LaFontaine's wisecrack goes down like a lead balloon, and it doesn't get them out of answering. "Okay, Kirsch has a good point. We have been sort of burning the candle at both ends. We could all use a little fun..." Beside them, Perry nods along in agreement.  
"Fine!" Danny throws her hands up in defeat, before crossing her arms over her chest in a sulk. "What did you have in mind?"

She instantly regrets asking when he reaches under his seat and pulls out a football – a wide, boyish grin playing on his face.

* * *

 

Laura's ears are still ringing from all the gunfire. Smoke lingers around the Jeep, along with the now unmoving bodies of the half-size walkers. Carmilla emptied the full magazine taking out most of the dead kids from off the bus, but a few of them still remain upright, stumbling over their fallen comrades in order to get closer to the car. The older girl drops the gun back through the sun-roof, letting it bounce harmlessly against her seat. The handgun is the type that Laura's dad would have loved, an old cowboy style gun with a long narrow barrel; it reminds her of a BB gun that Kirsch used to have.

"Hang tight, Princess." Carmilla pulls her legs up out of the car and swings them over the side, dropping down from the roof with the grace of a cat. She doesn't bother with the handful of walkers that are still pawing at the car, and they don't give her a second glance. They're far too focused on getting their next meal. This works for Carmilla. Laura is so terrified by the walkers that she fails to see the other girl reaching up and yanking the wing mirror right off the school bus. She carelessly tosses it aside, the metal clinking as it bounces and rolls along the road. It draws the attention of the walkers away from the Jeep, and Carmilla is able to slip back in while they're distracted.

"How did you do that?" Laura's mouth is hanging open as she stares at Carmilla, seemingly in awe. The vampire feels her stomach drop, wondering just what Laura actually saw. She's making up excuses in her head, of how the wing mirror was practically hanging off anyway, when the other girl elaborates. "You just walked right out there, you're not even afraid of those things...I don't know how you do it."  
"They're slow and they're stupid. Not much to be afraid of, Creampuff." Carmilla shrugs. There isn't much left in this world that the vampire is scared of; save for Mother of course.

Carmilla eases the gas pedal down. The Jeep inches forward, the screeching sound of metal scraping on metal filling the air. Once it's past the bus, the car rights itself again. The remaining few zombies stumble through the gap after them. Laura looks in the rear view mirror, pity written all over her face. Despite the fact that the things outside would happily rip her apart, Laura feels sorry for them. She still sees them as children. "It's so sad...they were just kids. I mean, they didn't even make it home from school." She looks like she's about to break down crying again.

Carmilla lets out a heavy sigh. Reaching in to the back of the Jeep, she pulls out a collapsible shovel and throws open her door. It doesn't take long to disperse of the last few walkers. "Thank you." Carmilla is glad to see Laura's eyes are drying up when she gets back behind the wheel. She has no idea how someone like Laura has even survived this long. She's far too innocent for this world – Something twisted, and buried not so deeply inside of Carmilla, wants to tell her this. She wants to tell Laura that she won't last long if she doesn't toughen up, but something stops her. Laura's innocence and naivety is almost refreshing – A reminder of a time when Carmilla herself had been just as pure.  
"Don't mention it, Cupcake."

Progress along the interstate is slow, hampered by several more road blocks and a hoard that takes hours to fully pass by them. Carmilla wants to carry on, but Laura insists on stopping for the night. It makes sense. The road is getting more and more congested the closer they get to the state line, and the headlamps of the Jeep barely make a dent in the inky darkness ahead of them. Carmilla reluctantly pulls over to the side of the road. They'll have to spend the night in the car.

"Hungry?" Laura asks, pulling a pack of Cheetos out of the bag full of food they'd found on the back seat. Carmilla is starving; quite literally. Her fangs are aching as they strain against her gums, threatening to break through and reveal themselves. With a simple shake of her head, she refuses the offered chips. Laura frowns in concern. "You haven't eaten anything all day."  
"I'm good." Carmilla insists firmly. She pulls a book out of her duffel bag, a well read copy of  _Dante's Inferno_ , and makes herself comfortable with her feet up on the dashboard. It's a struggle for her to concentrate though, with Laura sitting so close and crunching so loudly. By the time the teenager is tucking in to a packet of Oreos, Carmilla has developed a twitch in her left eye and is biting down on her tongue so hard that she can taste blood at the back of her throat; it does nothing to satiate her hunger. If she doesn't feed soon, she's going to lose it all together.

There's some blood in her bag, kindly donated by her last living meal, but it's been stagnating in a plastic bottle for a few days now, and it's far less appetizing than the gourmet feast sitting right beside the vampire. It's too soon for her to try and feed from Laura yet, she needs to win the girl's trust first. Carmilla will just have to wait until the human girl goes to sleep and then make do with the stale blood in her bag.

Hours pass, and Laura shows no sign of falling asleep any time soon – Despite the two girls having laid back their seats and climbed in to sleeping bags. Laura is jittery, jumping at every little noise outside the car. She isn't used to spending the night on the road, out in the open for the dead and the living alike to see. The temperature outside has also plummeted, leaving the Jeep feeling like an ice box. Laura's teeth are chattering as she lies on her side, facing away from Carmilla and trying not to show just how cold she is. Carmilla doesn't seem that affected; in truth, she barely registers the change in the temperature. She can tell the other girl is suffering. She's worried about Laura getting sick, but it's not like she can offer up her own sleeping bag. Carmilla needs to keep up her act as a regular human, and part of that includes feeling the cold.

It's clear Laura isn't going to fall asleep while she's shivering though, so Carmilla is left with only one option. Putting her book aside, she climbs in to the back and starts pulling the seats down, making a sort of bench out of them. Once she pushes some of the supplies further back in to the trunk, there's just enough space in the back for two people to lie down. Laura watches her, curious as to what she's doing, when Carmilla pulls her sleeping back in to the back. "You waiting for a formal invitation, Creampuff?" The vampire cock's her brow expectantly. Something about the older girl beckoning her has Laura's stomach twisting in knots.

Her anxiety only grows as she clambers in to the back and Carmilla takes her sleeping bag from her, zipping it together with her own and turning it in to a double. "I hope you don't mind being the little spoon." Carmilla smirks as they climb inside. With an ex-girlfriend who stands over six foot tall, Laura is certainly used to being the little spoon. What she isn't used to, however, is curling up in the back of a Jeep with a relative stranger. Carmilla doesn't actually cuddle in to the smaller girl, instead the two of them lie back to back; Laura has to admit, she's already much warmer.

It doesn't take long for her to finally drift off, exhaustion taking over. It was only a few days ago that she was a hair's breadth away from death. Had it not been for the restorative properties of Carmilla's blood, Laura would be just another faceless corpse in a world overrun with the dead. Saving the human girl's life has taken a lot out of Carmilla too, as has staying awake all day. Though the vampire can walk freely in the sunlight, she is nocturnal by nature. She can feel her eyelids growing heavy as she waits for Laura's breathing to even out. Once she's sure she is asleep, she carefully slips her bottled blood out of her bag, which she had strategically placed beside her before lying down. The pint of blood vanishes in seconds as Carmilla hungrily gulps it down. The lukewarm blood tastes disgusting, and only leaves her craving more – Laura's blood seems to sing to her in the darkness, calling out for Carmilla to take her fill. Ignoring the aching need in the pit of her stomach, she hides the empty bottle back inside of her bag and settles down beside the teenager; grateful when sleep finally takes hold of her.


	5. Chapter 5

Branches scratch at Laura's face as she whips through the trees as fast as her tiny legs will let her. She trips for the second time in as many minutes and feels her knees crunching against the hard earth of the forest. The wails of the dead follow closely behind her, but that's not what she's running from. A flash of black and a low growl has her back on her feet, running blindly forward. It doesn't matter where she's going, Laura just knows she needs to keep on moving. She almost doesn't stop in time when the trees thin out and a cliff edge looms in front of her. Laura scurries back from the edge as loose rocks tumble down in to the ravine far below.   
  
“Crap, crap, crap...” She tosses a wary glance over her shoulder, her eyes scanning the tree line for any sign of movement; other than the slow lumbering of corpses. Something else stalks the tiny teen. Something far more quick and deadly than a walker. A flash of black fur is the only warning she gets, before something explodes out of the undergrowth, heading straight for her.   
  
All Laura can do is scream as the panther launches itself at her, it's fierce fangs ripping in to her throat. She screams and screams, wishing the pain would stop...  
  
“Laura!” Her eyes snap open as she hears her name being called. Her whole body is covered in a thin sheen of sweat, and seems to be shaking. It takes a minute for her to realise that it's the girl beside her that is the cause of the shaking. Carmilla is leaning over her, her dark features framed by early morning light, gently shaking her shoulders. She pulls back when she sees Laura's eyes are open.   
  
Some of the concern begins to leave her expression, and she looks almost sheepish at being so worried about the relative stranger. She pulls back, giving Laura some more room; though there's still barely more than a couple of inches between them in the cramped rear of the Jeep. Carmilla can feel a tent peg digging in to her back. “You were dreaming.” She states the obvious as Laura looks around wildly, struggling to orientate herself.   
  
“Yeah...I guess I was.” She runs her hands through her hair, the real world crashing back down around her worse than any nightmare. “I was running from...from this _thing._ It was like a big, black cat. It cornered me on the side of a cliff and when it pounced at me...” Laura rubbed absently at her neck.   
“Like I said, it was just a dream, Sugarplum. Let's get some sugar in you.” Carmilla climbs back in to the front and starts rummaging through the bag of goodies that they had found in the car. “There we go.” She tosses a full packet of cookies back at the younger girl. Laura sets them aside. She really isn't feeling that hungry.   
“You should eat something.” Lectures Carmilla.   
  
“So should you.” She isn't surprised by Laura's reply. She hasn't been able to force herself to eat more than a bag of potato chips in the whole time Laura has been with her. It's not that vampires can't eat people food, it's just that Carmilla would much rather be feasting on fresh blood instead. Right now, she's so hungry that Laura's blood is practically singing out to her. Just a little taste would do...  
“Carmilla? I said, are we staying on this road?”   
  
“Hmm? Oh, yeah. It should be safe enough.” Carmilla shakes off her daze as she starts the car up. If she puts her foot down, and they don't encounter too many problems along the way, she thinks they can make it out of Alabama, and maybe even Tennessee, before nightfall. The sooner they get to Silas, the better. Carmilla isn't a morning person, and Laura is still spooked from her nightmare, so they drive in silence for the first hour or so, watching the sun lazily drag itself up in to the sky.   
  
Laura fixes her gaze on the road, watching it sweep aimlessly by. Not for the first time since being separated from the others, she starts to wonder whether she's doing the right thing in heading for Michigan. What if the others have changed their mind about heading for the mountains? What if Kirsch wasn't the only one to lose his life the day Laura fell from that cliff? What if Danny and LaF, and Perry are all gone? Should she carry on heading north, or try to find a place to settle down, somewhere with other survivors? Somewhere like Silas – Which Carmilla makes sound like some kind of safe haven from the plague. 

  
It's hard to imagine  _anywhere_ being safe anymore.    


East of where Carmilla and Laura had spent the night, closer to the Mississippi state border, Danny sits on the hood of a burnt out sports car, staring up at the early morning sky. The moon is still visible, lingering up there like the restless spirit of the previous night; it's almost full. In just a few more nights, Danny will have more than zombies to worry about. She takes a vodka miniature out of the pocket of her hoodie. It's the type they hand out on planes. She took a whole stash of them from the gas station.   
  
The alcohol burns her throat all the way down. It feels good; reminds her that she's still alive. The vodka hits her empty stomach almost instantaneously. She isn't looking for a buzz though, it's the complete opposite for her. She can feel herself starting to lose it, and Danny knows that the alcohol will calm her; for a little while at least.  
  


That was the plan anyway.   
  
“Do you really think that's going to help?” Kirsch asks as he invites himself to sit beside her. He perches on the hood of the car, shaking his head at the utter waste of a vintage Ferrari.   
“Save me the twelve steps, _Brody_.” The only one who ever calls Kirsch by his given name is his mother. Danny saves it for whenever she _really_ wants to piss him off. It usually works in getting him to leave her alone. He bristles, but doesn't leave. Crossing his arms over his chest, he makes it quite clear he isn't going anywhere.   
“Almost every living thing on this planet is looking to eat us...you might want to think about keeping your wits about you.”   
  
Danny starts to laugh. She can't help herself. It's not the healthy kind of laughter that warms you right through. It's shrill and mirthless. “I lost those a long time ago... I lost a lot of things.”   
“Drinking won't make you forget.” Brody points out, like he's the air of authority on the subject. Danny knows Kirsch's father was a raging alcoholic, and she's she sure his concern for her comes from a good place, but that doesn't mean she wants to sit and listen to a lecture. Taking a second miniature bottle out of her pocket, this one of whisky, she pops the cap and drinks it right in front of him. She tosses the bottle carelessly across the barren free-way. They'd all spent the night in the truck, after coming up against a small horde blocking the interstate.   
“I don't drink to forget anything. I do it to remember.”   
“Remember what?” Kirsch frowns, not quite sure if she's teasing him or being deadly serious. 

  
“That I'm only human.” Danny answers cryptically. She stretches, still trying to work out the knots and kinks that she's been left with after sleeping curled up in the front seat of the truck all night.   
“So were they. Once.” Kirsch nods towards a minivan in the opposite lane. A family of three are trapped inside the people carrier. Their lifeless eyes are fixed on the two teenagers. They claw pitifully at the glass that cages them in, no longer driven by complex human emotions and desires. All that fuels them now is their hunger for flesh.   
  
“Sooner or later we're all going to end up like that...like Laura. It makes you wonder why we even bother fighting it. Death's going to get us one way or another.” Danny shrugs with a kind of hopelessness that hits Kirsch square in the gut. He doesn't like the hollow look in her eyes, or the way she starts to fish in her pocket for another bottle. The hulking jock reaches over, taking hold of her wrist.   
“Life's not about the destination, it's about the journey.” It's possibly the most profound thing that has ever come out of Kirsch's mouth.   
  
“You're quoting Ralph Waldo Emerson?” Danny doesn't even attempt to hide her surprise.   
“Huh? No, dude. Aerosmith!” Kirsch looks thoroughly offended by her ignorance. Clambering to his feet, he stands on the hood of the car. Puffing out his chest, he starts belting out the words of the song at the top of his voice. “ _And how high can you fly with broken wings? Life's a journey not a destination! And I just can't tell just what tomorrow brings-”_

“Cool it _Bonjovi,_ your signing could wake the dead.” Danny manages a genuine giggle as she pulls him back down beside her.   
  
“Aerosmith!” He repeats with a grin, getting ready to break out in song again.   
“I'll stick to Emerson, thanks.” She rolls her eyes at him as she uses her elbow and gives the big lump a dig in the ribs. Her smile wavers as she spots a handful of walkers making their way towards them. “Looks like it's time to get moving.”   
“Hey.” Kirsch takes hold of her wrist again as she goes to get up. “One day soon, we'll be able to stop. We'll find somewhere safe, set up camp and...build a new life. You'll see.” Wearing his boyish smile, he sounds so certain that Danny almost wants to believe him. She glances up at the fading moon, feeling a familiar pit of dread washing over her.   
  


* * *

 

 

“Carmilla, there's somebody by the side of the road! Look! We have to stop!” Laura sits bolt upright in her chair, pointing frantically at a young woman kneeling by the side of the road. She's bent over something, dirty blonde hair hanging limply in her face as she keeps her attention fixed on whatever it is her body is sheltering. “There's a guy. He looks hurt! Carmilla, we _have_ to stop.” The older girl's only answer is to speed up, refusing to even acknowledge the two people up ahead of them.   
  
Hearing the approaching car, the girl looks up. She frantically starts waving her arms over her head, trying to attract their attention. There's blood on her hands. It stains her shirt too, which at one time had probably been white. Now it's a washed out shade of grey, threadbare, and missing one of the sleeves. “Stopping isn't an option, Cutie.” With an almost unseen flick of her wrist, she activates the central locking system.   
“Carmilla!” Laura snaps, refusing to believe anyone could be so heartless. “Stop! We can't just leave them!”   
  
“We can and we are.” Carmilla growls out, even as the girl jumps in to the middle of the road. “It's not safe-”  
“STOP!” Laura shrieks and the other girl's foot slams on the brakes. The car slides on the road, skidding to a stop just shy of the woman; and the bleeding man lying by her feet. She rushes to Laura's door, hazel eyes wide with fear as she bangs on the glass.   
“Help us! Help us, he's dying!”   
“Lau-” Carmilla starts – just as Laura pops the lock on her door and climbs out to help the stranger. The vampire's jaw clenches. Her hands tighten around the steering wheel. She feels something in her gut, and it has nothing to do with being hungry.  
  
“Thank you, thank you so much!” The blonde tugs at Laura's arm, pulling her over to the side of the road. “My boyfriend's been stabbed. We were car jacked and-” Her explanation is cut short as the man lying at her feet jumps up with all the grace of an acrobat. He's small and weedy, and barely a day over twenty. With greasy black hair that's been cut in to long bangs that hang over his eyes, he looks about as intimidating as a puppy dog. The handgun he pulls from the back of his pants helps to make him look a lot more dangerous; especially when it's aimed square at Laura's chest.   
  


Carmilla can see the nervous sweat on the man's brow from where she sits in the driver's seat of the car. His hand is shaking so hard that he has to grip the gun with both hands. He's no professional, and that makes Carmilla nervous. He's more likely to shoot Laura by accident than on purpose. The human girl is _her_ prize. She isn't willing to lose her to some snot nosed kid with a gun. She opens her door, sliding out slowly, so as not to startle the kid and his girlfriend.   
  
“Easy lady, we just want your car!” He talks with a slight lisp from a tongue piercing. As Carmilla walks around the front of the car, she can see the blood on his shirt is old and deliberately smeared on to look like he's been hurt. The wannabe Goth pushes his bangs out of his face with one sweaty hand, while keeping the other clamped tightly around the gun. He reeks of desperation and fear.   
  
“Take it. It's not mine anyway.” Carmilla shrugs indifferently. Her gaze quickly flickers between Laura and the gunman. Under any other circumstances she would go right ahead and rip the little punk's throat out, but if she did that it would more than likely send Laura running for the hills. She had to play this by ear; like a mangy human would. “Keys are in the ignition. Just take it and go.”   
“Don't try nothing funny!” The young man warns, motioning for his girlfriend to move towards the SUV. “Wouldn't dream of it.” Carmilla's voice is a dry, sarcastic drawl as she steps aside with her hands in the air.   
  
Laura isn't so calm. She's seething with a quiet kind of anger, the type that boils quietly in your blood before exploding to the surface. She's the one who made Carmilla stop, who walked them right in to this trap. Laura can't just stand there and watch everything they have be taken away from them. “That's not a real gun!” Laura grew up around guns. Her father had insisted she learn how to take apart and reassemble a handgun in two minutes flat. She knows how to spot a fake from a mile off.   
“Shut up!” The scared young kid looks even paler than he did before. He waves the gun around in the air like it's a stick – Laura's convinced it's about as dangerous as one.   
  
“Cupcake...” Carmilla shifts uneasily. She takes a conscious step towards the tiny human, overcome by a need to protect her. “Let the nice man take the car. We can get another one.”   
“We don't have to. That gun is fake. I'd bet my life on it!” Laura stands her ground, refusing to back down.   
“You better be right.” The vampire moves at a speed that could just about pass for human. She snatches the gun out of the man's hand, snapping his wrist for good measure. His screams pierce the air as he drops to his knees, sobbing for his mama. A cruel smile touches Carmilla's lips as she revels in the mortal's pain. The monster inside of her rears its ugly head, and she thinks about carrying through with her plan to rip his throat out.   
  
That is until there's a loud crack from behind her, and then a searing pain that rips through her back and explodes through her chest. There's more screaming, this time from Laura. Carmilla doesn't need to turn around to know what has happened. When she finally does manage to turn back she sees the blonde holding a gun. Her arm is as steady as a rock, and her expression is blank. There's a reason the boyfriend was the one to act as bait; he isn't the dangerous one. Carmilla recognises the other girl for the predator she is; though it's too little too late.   
  
Laura ignores the very real gun that the blonde girl is holding, pushing right past her to get to Carmilla. The tightly packed dirt at the side of the road is hard and wet as Carmilla drops to it. The small calibre bullet that is lodged in her left lung rattles as she takes shallow, uncomfortable breaths. “Carmilla! Carm, I'm so sorry!” Laura drops down beside the other girl, fear lacing her voice and making it quiver. She desperately holds Carmilla upright as she searches for the source of all the blood that is soaking through her shirt. “I'm sorry...I'm sorry, please don't die...please don't-”  
“Laura.” Carmilla snarls her name as she grips the front of the other girl's shirt. It's the first time she's ever spoken it, and it shocks the teenager more than the blood that coats her fingers. “Get in the car. Lock the door and close your eyes.”   
“Carm-”  
  
“Go!” The vampire roars out, just as the whites of her eyes are obliterated by inky darkness. Laura scurries back, startled by the sight she's just witnessed. She runs, just like she's told to, and reaches the safety of the car before the first gun shot rings out. It's followed by a second and a third. She turns around, clutching the handle of the passenger door, and witnesses a sight she'll never be able to shake off. Carmilla snaps the blonde girl's neck in one quick, clean motion. Her mouth is open in a silent scream, and there's an audible crunch as the bones grind together.   
  
Laura is frozen to the spot. The rational part of her brain is shouting for her to get in the car and put her foot down on the accelerator; but her limbs don't seem capable of receiving that message. She can't move a muscle, can only watch as Carmilla turns to the dead girl's boyfriend. He's equally rooted to the spot, like a rabbit transfixed by the lights of an oncoming car. In two swift steps, Carmilla is standing over the terrified boy. She can feel Laura's gaze burning in to the back of her head, but she can't stop herself from doing what she's about to do. She can't leave any loose ends; three – painstaking – centuries of living has taught her that much at least.   
  
He isn't lucky enough to die as quickly as the girl did. Getting shot in the back wouldn't kill a vampire, but it does hurt like hell. Carmilla's temper is only outmatched by her hunger. Her fangs descend, ripping right through her gums. The kid's throat comes next. It's been a while since Carmilla has fed to kill – decades to be exact. It's slow and sloppy. Blood spills out of her mouth, gushing down her front with every frantic beat of the teenager's. He's too far gone to feel any pain by now. The blood goes straight to her head, like an injection of crack flavoured espresso. The world around her comes in to sharper focus. Everything is that much brighter and louder. Carmilla can hear the sound of another wildly beating heart. It's close by; and its owner is terrified.   
  
Her senses come crashing back to her as she remembers she has an audience. There's blood all down her shirt, on her face and matted in her hair. She wipes at her mouth with the back of her hand. The last time she was left this bloody after feeding, had been during the Civil War. She can't remember just what side the soldiers that she and Will had massacred belonged to, only that she took out more than he did. Those were darker days. She likes to think she's not that monster anymore; or at least she likes to pretend she isn't.   
  
She takes a moment to compose herself – counts to five in her head.   
  
Carmilla turns when she hears the click of a bullet being chambered behind her. Laura is no longer hidden in the safety of the car. She stands just yards away, holding the gun that they found on the previous owner of the SUV. Her stance is textbook: feet shoulder width apart, one hand on the grip and the other one cupping that one. “What the hell _are_ you?”   
  
Carmilla's top lip curls back as she sneers at the gun, though the whites of her eyes return. “You know, Cupcake, I'm getting _really_ sick of having guns shoved in my face... So why don't you put that thing down, and then we can both play nice?”   
  
  
  
  
  
  


 

  


 

 

 

  
  


  
  
  
  


 


	6. Chapter 6

"This is the third place we've searched today, and you've gone straight to the bathroom every time." Kirsch corners Danny while she's busy raiding some stranger's medicine cabinet. His hulking form fills the narrow doorway, giving Danny no option but to confront him if she wants to get back out in to the hallway.  
"Antibiotics and painkillers." She shoves a bottle of pills right under his nose, before stuffing it in to her backpack along with all the other medicines she's collected. "I'm pretty sure my health insurance doesn't cover the apocalypse."

"Good thinking." Kirsch acknowledges, but he doesn't sound completely convinced by her answer. He stares at the backpack slung over one of Danny's shoulders, as though he can see right through the canvas bag, and knows she's carrying much more than over the counter painkillers. "That looks heavy. Want me to take it?"  
"No. I got it." Danny hefts the bag over her other shoulder and pushes right past Kirsch, mumbling about misogyny. Her already notorious temper is growing ever shorter with each passing day – It's only a matter of time before she explodes.

Heading downstairs, Danny ducks in to the empty coat closet by the front door. Leaving the door slightly ajar and allowing a slither of light to creep inside along with her. She pulls a bottle of pills out of the inside pocket of her denim jacket; she'd barely had time to stash them there when she heard the floorboard at the top of the stairs creaking under Kirsch's size twelves. Danny's fingers falter over the child proof cap. She's impatient and her palms are sweaty, Kirsch or the others could call out for her at any second, she doesn't have time to waste.

A feral growl escapes her lips before she finally manages to wrench open the bottle of pills; a stark reminder of just how much she needs them right now. She hates this time of the month. Danny can hardly control her emotions at the best of times, but it always gets worse around this time. She pops two pills, swallowing them dry and choking on the taste of chalk and salt that coats the back of her throat afterwards. She should be used to it by now – The taste of Lithium is as familiar to her as the sight of the sun coming up.

It's been a couple of weeks since her supply ran out, so the pills won't be anywhere near as effective as they usually are until they're back in her system. What she really needs to find is some Valium or Ativan. Those would take the edge off for a while.

After a minute spent composing herself in the comforting darkness of the closet, she ventures off to find the others. LaF and Perry are almost done clearing out the kitchen by the time she joins them. Kirsch's idea to target houses has really paid off. They've hit three places already and they've gathered enough food and supplies to keep them going for at least a week. Along with food, drink and medical supplies, they've also scavenged clothes, blankets, flashlights, batteries, and all manner of useful things – and they've only had to put down four walkers.

"You guys ready to go?" Danny asks as she picks up two of the suitcases they've filled with stolen goods. Kirsch follows her in, picking up his fair share of the load. LaFontaine nods, but Perry is busy stroking a food processor.  
"When do you think things will get back to normal?" Perry's question is unexpected. It catches them all off guard; even LaFontaine, who is usually quick to reassure their girlfriend that things will get better. "When will we be able to go back home? To live in a house, take a shower...bake a damn cake?"

"Perr-" LaF tries to step in and comfort her, but Danny gets in there first. It's time they all stop deluding themselves.  
"We won't." She answers honestly, ignoring LaFontaine's sharp glare from across the other side of the kitchen. "Best case scenario, we make it to Montana and we find a place to catch our breaths. We might find somewhere safe, somewhere untouched by this shit storm, but our old lives are gone. The world isn't going to magically fix itself! There are too many of them and too few of us..."

"Jeez, Lawrence, look on the bright side why don't you?" LaF's scowl deepens as Perry's hand tightens around theirs.  
"I'm just being realistic." Danny shrugs. She looks to Kirsch for backup, but he's wearing the same kicked puppy dog expression that Perry is. "Whatever..." She huffs at them. They can live in their fantasy land a little while longer – Any hope that Danny had left tumbled over the edge of a cliff days ago.

 

* * *

 

 

"Ugghhhh..." Laura Hollis lets out a low groan as her eyes slowly open. There's a dull ache pulsing through her skull, and she doesn't remember lying down to take a nap in the back of the Jeep; but here she is, lying on her side and staring down at the blankets that cover the folded down rear seats. Something important niggles at the back of her mind – Something pressing, that she's forgotten all about.

Laura tries to sit up in the hope of clearing her head. Her attempt is somewhat hampered by the fact that her wrists are bound in front of her with duct tape. "What the? Ca-" She starts to call out for Carmilla, but realisation hits her like a runaway freight train. The couple trying to take the car. Carmilla attacking them. The gun shaking in her hands as she pointed it at the advancing girl. "Don't panic, Hollis. Don't panic..." She repeats the mantra to herself as she squirms and shuffles until she's sitting upright, her back pressed against one of the rear doors.

Taking a second to compose herself, she peeks her head up and glances out of all the windows, searching for any sign of Carmilla. They seem to have moved from the spot where the would be carjackers stopped them. They're now parked in a clearing in the middle of the woods. Laura has no idea how long she's been out, where Carmilla is, or how long she'll be gone. She has to stay calm and get herself out of this mess. She's a Hollis – She can do this.

Laura wriggles her hands, testing how much give the tape has. "Here goes nothing..." She raises her arms above her head, taking them as far back as she can, before violently thrusting them forward and tugging her wrists apart. The tension breaks the tape right down the middle. Laura can't believe that actually worked, but she doesn't have time to gloat over it.

She clambers in to the front seat, desperately hoping to find that Carmilla has been stupid enough to leave the keys behind; her luck doesn't run that far. The pistol, however,  _is_  sitting on the front passenger seat; as though Carmilla hastily tossed it aside when she was driving and forgot all about it. Laura tucks it in to her belt. She takes one of the backpacks from the trunk of the car and fills it with as much as she can manage to carry.

"Going somewhere, Cupcake?" She's barely taken two steps out of the Jeep when Carmilla appears at the edge of the clearing. Laura whips out the gun, holding it with both hands, her trigger finger on the guard; just the way her father had taught her. Her arms don't shake this time. She doesn't know how Carmilla got the gun from her the first time, or just what she did to those people who tried to take the Jeep – but what she does know is that the  _thing_  standing in front of her is far more dangerous than any zombie.

"Seriously?" Carmilla laughs at the sight of the gun in the tiny girl's hands. "Have you forgotten how things ended the last time you pulled a gun on me?" She takes a couple of steps forward, seemingly unfazed that Laura is armed. The younger girl stumbles backwards. Even without a gun, Carmilla is still pretty intimidating.  
"No. Actually, I don't." All that Laura remembers is a shadowy blur coming towards her, and then,  _lights out._

"You untied yourself...Colour me impressed, Creampuff." Carmilla praises the other girl as she begins to slowly circle her, keeping to the edge of the trees and making Laura turn on the spot to keep her in her line of sight.  
"Yeah, well, clearly  _your_  dad didn't make you watch the Dateline special on getting out of duct tape."

"My father died centuries before the advent of either television or duct tape." Carmilla's eyes have taken on that dark hue again, to the point that they almost look black. She moves with the natural grace and confidence of a predator.  
"Centuries?" Laura's voice cracks. "You're exaggerating...right?"  
"Afraid not, Pumpkin. Now, why don't you put the gun down and we'll talk like civilised beings."  
"I like the gun. I'm rather attached to the gun. I'm keeping the gun!"  
"Fair enough." Carmilla shrugs, like the pistol pointed at her face is of no real concern; the thought does nothing to comfort Laura.

"What are you?" She demands through gritted teeth, determined that the other girl will answer her this time. "That guy shot you, and you...you ripped him apart with your bare hands! There was blood...blood dripping from your mouth..." Laura has turned even paler than Carmilla at this point. She doesn't want to do the math, but Carmilla is clearly something other than human. For the first time in her life, Laura Hollis is actually contemplating whether running off alone, in to a forest potentially full of walking corpses, might be a good idea.

"Since you're asking, I'm actually  _really_ bored of this little charade now. How about you?" Carmilla drawls, casually inspecting her nails as she carries on moving in a slow circle around the human girl. She had hoped she'd have a little longer to win Laura's trust before revealing her true nature, but time had run out the second that couple had tried to hijack them. "We both know you're not going to shoot me. Hell, you can't even shoot a corpse. How are you supposed to-"

She's abruptly cut off as Laura fired off a round. The bullet hits the ground inches away from her foot, throwing up a chunk of dirt – as well as Carmilla's brow. She stares the younger girl down, genuinely impressed. "Look who grew a pair. A foot higher and you might have even hit my knee."  
"Hitting you, that's really not going to be a problem." Laura raises the gun again, this time aiming for the trunk of a tree, just to Carmilla's left. She lets off three shots, landing them all in a tight group. "Here's what's going to happen. I'm taking off this way. You're going to drive the other way, and we are  _never_  going to see each other again. Understood?"

Laura doesn't wait for her reply. She starts backing up, the gun trained squarely on Carmilla's chest. "Understood." The vampire nods, wearing a grim smile. "You're choosing the hard way." Laura barely gets the chance to scream before Carmilla is on her in the blink of an eye. The gun is wrenched from her hands and tossed aside as Carmilla twists one of Laura's arms up behind her back. The teenager is forced to drop down on to her knees in order to avoid having her arm snap.

The roll of duct tape she used earlier is still hanging around Carmilla's wrist, like a functional bracelet. She puts it to use, wrapping it around and around Laura's wrists, binding them tight. "Tying your hands in front of you, that was a rookie mistake." Carmilla admits, tugging the other girl back up to her feet. "I'd have done a better job at tying you up if I'd known you knew a thing or two about bondage, Cutie. We'll pick up that conversation later. First, we should get some privacy." All of that shouting and shooting has attracted some unwanted attention. The first walkers start stumbling in to the clearing just as Carmilla throws Laura over her shoulder.

She unceremoniously drops the smaller girl in the back of the Jeep. Laura tries to stay calm. She knows if she panics she's dead. She always thought her dad was just over reacting when he taught her how to shoot at age nine, and wilderness survival training at the tender age of ten. The single parent had worried about everything and anything that could happen to his precious little girl – He had wanted to prepare her for whatever the world could throw at her. Somehow, even he hadn't thought to prepare Laura for facing down zombies, and god knows what else goes bump in the night.

Laura's legs are still free. If she can maneuver her bound hands in front of her, then maybe she can make a run for it while Carmilla isn't looking. As if reading her mind, Carmilla makes a grab for her legs. Laura's last chance of freedom is going up in smoke right in front of her. She lashes out, kicking with all her might. She can't let Carmilla tape up her legs. One of her sneakers connects with the vampire's cheek. Her head snaps back, but it's not enough to get her to let go of Laura's other, flailing, leg. The blow just makes matters worse. Carmilla's face changes as she snarls in anger, her eyes darkening and her lips curling back to reveal ultra sharp fangs.

Laura whimpers in fear. She tries to scramble further back in to the car, and out of her reach, but Carmilla's grip on her ankle is too strong. The vampire winds the tape around her calves, making it impossible for Laura to stand, never mind run. Once the teenager is all tied up Carmilla drops the roll of tape and climbs in to the back along with her. She closes and locks the door before the first walker can reach the car. A handful of them slam up against the driver's side, their grotesque faces pressed right up against the glass as they moan in eternal hunger.

Carmilla sits with her back up against the window, letting her head flop back against it. "Damn, Shortbus..." She lets out a laugh. "I can't remember the last time a girl made me work so hard for it." Carmilla hopes a joke will help to cut the ice, but the way Laura's lower lip starts to tremble lets her know she's missed the mark. For all she's tied up, and scared to death, Laura still struggles against her bonds. There's no mistaking the fact that this kid wants to live.

"Relax, Cupcake. I'm not going to hurt you. I just need you to listen to what I have to say, without you running off to be zombie chow."  
"It's better than being eaten by a..." Laura comes up short. Deep down, she  _knows_  what Carmilla is; but she can't bring herself to say it. The world might be overrun with the walking dead, but Laura Hollis still can't believe in the existence of things like Carmilla.  
"UpÃr? Banpiroa? Nosferatu... Do you really need me to spell it out to you, Creampuff?"  
"Y-you're a... v-v-vampire..." Laura finally spits the word out. It sounds even more incredulous than 'zombie'.

"Ding, ding, ding, and we have a winner!" Carmilla smirks. She's trying her best to be nice, she really is, but 'nice' isn't part of her repertoire.  
"Okay, I changed my mind. Can you just eat me already?" Laura scowls. She's had about as much as she can take of the other girl mocking her.  
"Easy, tiger. I like to get to know a girl before I get serious." Carmilla throws her a wink. for a fearsome vampire, she doesn't seem all that scary anymore. The superhuman speed and strength had thrown Laura, and the growling had downright terrified her but, if it wasn't for the fact that she was tied up, it was like none of the last few hours had actually happened.

"I meant what I said. I don't want to hurt you." Carmilla shifts closer, causing Laura to shuffle backwards – not that she can go very far. With her hands bound behind her back, she can only wriggle helplessly.  
"Yeah, right! I bet you just tie girls up for fun all the time... wait, that came out wrong." Laura cringes as the other girl cracks up laughing at her. "If you're not going to kill me, then can you please just untie me?"

"Soon." Carmilla promised, shifting to make herself comfortable beside the teenager. "First, I need you to listen to what I have to say. I don't kill people for fun. That couple would have killed us for the clothes off our back. It was us or them. I chose us."  
"Okay...so untie me already." Laura struggles impatiently against the tape that binds her limps. She still has a pounding headache from being knocked out earlier, and her shoulders are starting to cramp up from the way she's lying on her arms.  
"We both know that if I untie you, you'll make a run for it... and probably end up going right off another cliff."

"I  _tripped!_ " Laura huffs. Her eyes widen, and she suddenly falls silent as she remembers something from the day she fell – Warm, thick blood trickling down the back of her throat as she gasped for air and fought off waves of intolerable pain. Laura had felt nothing before waking up with the blood in her mouth; blood that she had thought was her own. "Did you...Am I... Am I going to...have I  _drank_ your blood?!"


	7. Chapter 7

"You're not going to turn. You hadn't lost enough blood for that." Carmilla rolls her eyes at having to repeat herself for a  _fourth_ time. "You were dying when I found you, giving you my blood was the only way to keep you alive."  
"Why?" Laura demands. She's all wide-eyed and desperate as she struggles against the tape at her wrists. "Why would you do that? You didn't know me from Adam! So why save  _my_ life?"

That right there is a loaded question. Carmilla isn't sure she can answer it without further incriminating herself. She had been following Laura and her friends for a while before the accident. The vampire had tailed them from a gas station in the hope of getting an easy meal. She hadn't hesitated when she'd seen Laura go over the edge of that cliff.

The vampire shrugs in response. "It's a long way home. I figured some company couldn't hurt."  
"Company? Don't you mean a juice box?" Laura is perceptive for a teenager. It's going to be far easier for Carmilla to just be honest with her.  
"Yes. Living, breathing, humans aren't exactly easy to come by these days. I'm not some kind of animal; I wouldn't feed on you without your permission... I was just waiting for the right time to bring it up."

"The right time?" Laura splutters, taken aback by the answer. "When exactly is the ' _right time'_ to ask someone if you can have their blood?"  
"Right after you've bought them dinner?" Answers Carmilla, in her usual biting sarcasm. She's doesn't quite know how to react when Laura starts to laugh. Part of her worries that the tiny human might be losing it. The lame joke at least eases some of the tension in the car though. Carmilla tries to make things a little more civil. "If you promise not to run, I'll untie you."

"I'm sure you say that to all your victims." Laura huffs, but she promises none the less. The human girl stiffens when Carmilla crawls towards her, pulling out a switch-blade knife. Her heart pounds in her chest. It sends the sweet nectar contained within her veins racing all around her body. It's distracting, to say the least, and Carmilla is grateful she already ate.

She cuts Laura's wrists and ankles free, letting her tear off her bindings. There is no real dignified way to yank duct tape off skin. The deep furrow of Laura's brow keeps Carmilla quiet while she leaves her to it. The teenager is still frowning as she rubs at her chaffed wrists. "So tell me why exactly I'd agree to let you suck my blood?" The question alone makes Laura feel ridiculous. Zombies, vampires, it's all just too much. Laura yearns for the days when her biggest woes involved wayward bears.

"That's simple, Creampuff. For a little bit of your blood each day, you won't have to worry about food, water or shelter. Not to mention you'll get the personal protection of a bad-ass vampire. So, what do you say, Cutie? Do we have ourselves a deal?" Carmilla is confident that she'll say yes. Laura is all kinds of feisty, but she's also an easy target. Not just for the dead, but the living too.  
"No."

"What?" The vampire frowns, struggling to keep up her 'patient' act. Carmilla has seen all too often what happens to girls like Laura. She knows where their bright-eyed optimism will take them. "You won't make it on your own! I'm trying to help you here, Ell!" The vampire almost cringes as she realizes her mistake. Laura doesn't pick up on the slip of the tongue.

It explains a lot things though. Many of which Carmilla doesn't even want to admit to herself. When Laura had asked her why she'd saved her life, the vampire had been at a loss for an answer to give her. She sees it now. She isn't trying to save Laura. She's trying to save a girl who died a hundred years ago.

Laura lifts her head up, trying to look tougher than she feels right now. "Maybe I won't make it, but I have to try. My friends are still out there. Also, I'd rather make it to Montana  _without_ developing anemia!"

"Fine." Carmilla relents. There's no way she's going to let Laura pack a bag and walk off in to the unknown. "Stay. I won't feed from you."  
"Why?" Carmilla is growing sick of having her motives questioned. She can't blame the human girl for being skeptical though. Not when a vampire is inviting her along for a cross country road trip.

"Maybe I just want some company."

* * *

"We should find somewhere to hole up for a few days... I think Perry could use some time off the road." Danny glances at the sleeping girl in the back of the truck. She's curled up on the back seat, with LaFontaine sleeping soundly beside her. Kirsch grunts in agreement, his eyes never leaving the road. It's been dark for a few hours now.

The moon up above them is almost full. It's been thirteen days since the last new moon, and tomorrow night is the start of two long nights of the moon being full. Danny needs to find some place to lie low for those two nights. Somewhere she won't hurt anyone. She also needs to come up with a good enough reason to ditch the others for a few days; which is easier said than done.

"What do you reckon, should we look for a motel, or go all out and look for something with four stars and a spa?" Kirsch finally looks away from the dimly lit road long enough to flash Danny a grin. She laughs, despite the mood she's been in all night, and plays along.  
"Somewhere fancy. With big soft beds and fluffy pillows, and a really hot shower..."

"And an all you can eat buffet." Adds Kirsch.  
"Wide screen TVs and internet access..."  
"And hot maids...shit, sorry bro." He catches himself and quickly apologises before she can go off on a rant at him.

"That's a given." Danny laughs, catching him off-guard. She's on enough mood stabilizers and anti-anxiety meds to keep her from snapping at him. Despite the pull of the moon, the fact that the world ended months ago, and almost everyone she loves is dead, Danny Lawrence is feeling quite at peace. With her feet up on the dash of Kirsch's truck, the window rolled down just slightly, and a soft breeze blowing through her hair, it feels like nothing can bring her down right now.

She can smell the forest through her open window. The scent of damp earth has her itching to shout at Kirsch to stop the car so she can get out. She wants to rip her clothes off and run naked through the trees. That probably means she should pop a few more pills.

Kirsch is still watching her like he's her parole officer, so that's out of the question. She closes her eyes over instead, trying to focus on the breathing exercises her father taught her as a toddler. Being in the woods reminds her of him. With her eyes shut she can almost pretend that it's her dad driving, and their off for one of their monthly camping trips. "Hey, D. Looks like there's a farmhouse up there." Almost.

"We haven't passed another place in miles. It should be pretty safe, right?" When Danny slowly peels her eyes open she finds Kirsch waiting patiently for her approval.  
"As safe as anywhere else on this godforsaken rock." She nods, signalling for him to turn off the road.

The concrete road gives way to gravel, then eventually goes to dirt as they drive past field after field of wilted crops. Kirsch brings the truck to a stop outside a run down old ranch style house. The red paint is flaking off the walls, and the white trim on all of the window frames is faring just as badly. There are four walls and a roof though, and that's good enough for a few nights.

"Should we-" Kirsch points back at the others, but Danny shakes her head. Her skin feels like it's about to crawl right off of her, and she's itching for a fight. This close to the full moon, nothing short of a hoard is going to stop her from claiming the farmhouse.  
"Let 'em sleep. We got this." Danny picks up her crowbar and pushes her door open, not waiting to see if Kirsch is following.

The wind is blowing towards her, carrying the scent of death and decay with it. Her senses are in overdrive right now. She can smell at least two people, though she can't tell if they're alive, dead, or somewhere in between.

Kirsch's heavy footsteps follow her up the rotten steps of the porch. He isn't exactly being quiet, but that isn't a bad thing when it comes to clearing out a house potentially full of zombies. Danny pushes open the front door, letting it slam with enough noise to raise the dead; at least, that's the plan. The two of them wait a full minute before venturing in to the house.

It's eerily silent inside. Danny knows the scent of death is coming from upstairs. Despite this, she and Kirsch do things the way they always do when they're looking for a place to stay. They go from room to room, clearing each one in turn. They find the bodies in the master bedroom. An elderly old couple are tucked up in bed, buried under a mountain of blankets. They've been dead a while.

"Think they offed themselves when things went bad?" Kirsch asks. His voice little more than a whisper, like he's worried about waking the dead couple up. There's little chance of that, with the wall behind the bed painted in their gray matter.  
"Looks that way." Danny bends down by the side of the bed, and retrieves a small caliber handgun. She tucks it in to the back of her jeans when she stands back up.

"It's kind of sweet... The two of them going out together like that." Kirsch muses as he picks up a picture frame from the dressing table. The two people in it look so normal that they could be Danny's grandparents; the ones on her mother's side at least. "I think it's how I'd want to go out... How about you?"

"Me?" Scoffs Danny. "I'd want to have a heart attack in my sleep when I'm ninety. This...This is just sad." She gestures at the two withered corpses in the bed. It should never have come to this. Those poor people should never have had to take their own lives.

She closes her eyes, trying to catch her breath. This all hits too close to home. She can still picture the anguish on her mother's face when she pulled the trigger. Shooting her husband of twenty years hadn't been easy for Mrs Lawrence; even if he was dead long before the bullet hit. Danny just wishes they'd had the strength to put him down sooner – before he'd bitten her mother.

She'd ran all the way to Laura's house before she heard her mother fire the last shot; the one that took her own life. Laura and her Dad had been like family. Their house had been the first safe place Danny had thought of when the shit had officially hit the fan – Kirsch and his mother had beat her there.

"You okay?" She must have zoned out. Kirsch is standing right beside her, his hand on her shoulder and a worried frown on his face.  
"Yeah. I'm good." Danny pulls away, stuffing her hands in to the pockets of her jeans. "We're all clear. Let's go get the others."

"Danny-" Kirsch reaches out for her when she goes to turn and walk away. She jerks away from him, her hands balling in to fists. "Easy! I'm just worried about you, okay?" Kirsch holds his own hands up in the universal position of surrender.

He expects her to snap at him again. So he's more than a little surprised when she lurches forward, throwing her arms around his neck. His initial thought is that she's going to try and strangle him. "I'm not okay." She mutters in to the side of his neck as she holds on to him. Kirsch can't quite remember the last time they hugged.

He thinks it might have been the day of his grandfather's funeral. They'd been twelve at the time. It feels awkward to wrap his arms around her at first, but after a few minutes of just standing like that it starts to feel almost normal. "Danny, I -"

The horn of the truck sounds from outside, startling the two teens. Danny jumps away, shoving her hands back in to her pockets and hunching her shoulders over. She walks out without saying a word, leaving Kirsch even more worried about her than before.

He trudges down the stairs after her, his work-boots echoing loudly off each step. They've already cleared the house, so he doesn't have to worry about the noise drawing anything out. Perry and LaFontaine are inside the house by the time he gets back to the front door. They're holding their overnight packs, so it looks like they'll be spending the night there at least. "Heads up!" Danny walks through the front door and tosses Kirsch's own pack at him.

He catches it with a grunt. "Thanks, Lawrence. So, where are we setting up camp?" The question is aimed at Danny, but it's LaFontaine that answers.  
"Uh, actually guys, Perr and I were thinking we'd take a room for ourselves tonight. I mean, the house is safe right?" They look sheepishly between Danny and Kirsch, praying not to have to explain themselves.

If there is a God, he isn't looking their way. The other two come up with a barrage of reasons for why sleeping separately is a bad idea. They've all shared a single space to sleep for the months they've been on the road; and therein lies the problem.

"Oh, for crying out loud! LaFontaine and I would like some privacy." Perry snaps. The other three teens in the room all go a varying shade of crimson at the implication.  
"Oh. That's cool, bros..." Kirsch rubs awkwardly at the back of his neck, while Danny finds the vase on a side table next to her suddenly fascinating. "Um...there's a few bedrooms upstairs... Danny?" He looks to her for help, his cheeks blazing scarlet.

"There's a double that joins up with another bedroom through the bathroom. You guys can take the double and we'll take the other room. Two exits are better than one." Danny does what she does best and takes charge. They'll need to reinforce both doors, and it won't hurt to scout out what the roof is like outside the bathroom window, just in case. "Do you want to grab dinner now, or-"

"We're good!" LaF calls over their shoulder, already eagerly dragging Perry up the stairs. "See you in the morning!"  
"Wow." Danny mutters under her breath. The couple have never exactly been all that open about their relationship. Up until now, Danny wasn't even sure they were doing it. Apparently they are, if the speed at which they raced upstairs is anything to go by. "I guess it's just you and me for dinner, Popped Collar."

* * *

"Relax, Pop Tart." Carmilla childes as Laura visibly flinches when the vampire moves to shift the gearstick. "We've been over this. You're off the menu for dinner." She flashes the teenager a toothy smile, which does little to settle her already frayed nerves.

It's dark outside, and they've been driving for hours since Carmilla outed herself as a vampire. Laura has been on edge the whole time. She tenses every time Carmilla moves so much as a fraction of an inch. It was amusing at first, but now it's just plain irritating.

At the mention of dinner, Laura's stomach starts to grumble. She's been living on junk food for the past few days. She would literally kill for something that actually needs to be cooked; even if it's just one of Perry's camp stove dinners. As if reading her mind, Carmilla goes for a peace offering. "You know, all that sugar can't be good for you. We could stop for the night, make a fire, look for something real for you to eat..."

"Sure; and how many pints of my blood would all that cost me?" Laura sneers. She doesn't trust the vampire as far as she can throw her. No matter what Carmilla says, Laura knows it's only a matter of time before she shows her true colours and tries to bite her.

Carmilla just rolls her eyes and ignores her as she pulls off the side of the road. She heads deeper in to the woods, looking for a good place to park for the night. "Okay, Cupcake. You sit tight and I'll go find you something good to eat."  
"Where?" Laura frowns. She scans the landscape outside. It's pitch black. Not even the light from the moon overhead can penetrate the canopy made up of leaves and branches from the densely packed trees. "It's not like there's a convenience store just behind that rock."

"Humans." Carmilla shakes her head, letting out a puff of laughter. She starts to get out of the car, then thinks better of it. Popping her head back in, she stares the tiny teenager down. "Don't go anywhere. There's worse than little old me out here in these woods." With that, she slams the door and activates the central locking system. Without a key, Laura is effectively trapped inside; it should keep her out of trouble at least until Carmilla makes it back.

"Where are you-" Laura starts to call out, but the vampire disappears from sight much quicker than she was expecting. She thinks she catches a glimpse of something big and black slinking off through the trees, but it's too dark for her to be sure. "Great." She huffs out, flopping back in to her seat. "Leave me here, alone in the big, scary woods... That's just peachy."

In spite of the sheer terror of the situation Laura has found herself in, she somehow manages to fall asleep. She's curled up in a ball on the front seat, when the sound of the locks disengaging startles her awake. She's not sure how long she was out, but it was obviously long enough for her to get a crick in her neck. She stretches out, trying to work out the knots in her shoulders.

A flickering orange glow just outside the car catches her attention. Climbing over to the driver's side, she pushes open the door and almost spills out on to the forest bed below. "Smooth, Sundance, smooth." Carmilla is wearing a devilish grin as she watches Laura trying to right herself with as much dignity as she can muster while picking leaves out of her hair.

"What's that?" Laura pulls a face at the sight of something roasting over the low fire that Carmilla has built. It looks like some kind of small animal, maybe a squirrel or a rabbit.  
"That, Creampuff, is dinner."  
"I don't eat meat..."

"Seriously?" Carmilla stares at her like she's suddenly grown an extra head. "I spent an hour finding this thing for you! It's the god-damn-zombie-apocalypse, it's not like I can just take a stroll in the woods and find you a vegan burger!" She spits out with more vehemence than she means to. Carmilla is over three hundred years old. She just doesn't have the patience that she used to posses; back when she was Laura's age.

"What are you doing?" She snaps as tears start welling up in Laura's eyes. "No! Stop that! Don't cry!" Carmilla takes a step towards her, but that just makes the younger girl's bottom lip start to quiver.

"I'm sorry..." Laura lets out a strangled sob. It opens some kind of floodgate. "I...I just don't eat meat. I never have. My Mom was a pescatarian, and I am too... I'm not trying to be an inconvenience. Please don't eat me. Please-"

"Whoa!" Carmilla holds her hands up to stop her midway through her rant. "Pescatarian. So you eat fish, right? There's a stream nearby. I'll go get you something. Just wait here... and stop crying." Carmilla takes off, eager to get away from the sobbing girl. She doesn't stop to think about locking Laura back inside the car.


	8. Chapter 8

“You're still here.” Carmilla is stunned to see Laura sitting in front of the camp-fire. She has the hood of her jacket up over her head, and her knees are tucked up to her chest. She looks even smaller than usual, curled up in on herself. The teenager gives her a weak smile as she looks up.  
“I thought about running.” Laura shrugs.

“Why didn't you?” Carmilla had half expected to have to come back and track the human girl down when she realised she hadn't locked her back inside the car. She isn't used to being surprised by people – at least not for the better.

“I thought about it.” Laura answers in a quiet, almost childlike, voice. She brings her chin down to rest on her knees, her eyes staring vacantly at the fire. “There's nowhere to go.”   
“And here I thought you might have stayed for the company.” Carmilla rolls her eyes.

Taking a seat beside the younger girl, she holds up the fresh trout she caught down at the river. “Dinner, take two. It doesn't look much, but I can dress it up a bit.” Carmilla pulls out her switch-blade knife, startling Laura in the process. “Relax, it's for gutting the fish... It's getting cold out here. Why don't you go on back inside? I'll call you when it's ready.”

Laura nods stiffly, dusting her jeans off as she gets back to her feet. “Thanks...For everything, not just the food.” Ignoring the fact that Carmilla is holding a knife in one hand, and a dead fish in the other, she leans over to give the other girl a brief hug. She's just full of surprises tonight.   
“You're welcome, Cupcake.”

Laura is settled in her sleeping bag when Carmilla finally follows her in to the car. She hands over a plastic plate from the picnic cooler in the trunk. “Wow...You made this? I'm seriously impressed.” Laura marvels at the food on her plate.   
“I boiled some water, put a fish in it and made a sauce out of some berries. It's hardly gourmet dining.” Carmilla shrugs off her praise; though she bites back a smile when Laura isn't looking.   
  


“I miss TV.” Laura sighs later, after she's finished eating and she and Carmilla have been sitting in silence for what feels like forever. “And the internet... God, I miss the internet.”   
“This generation.” Carmilla snorts, shaking her head in disdain.

“I'm sorry, do vampires not watch TV, or something?” Laura teases. The word 'vampire' still feels as alien on her tongue as 'zombie' does.   
“I was never big on watching television. I have better things to do with my time.”   
“Such as?”

“Come on.” Carmilla answers with a secretive smile. She offers the human girl her hand. Laura just stares at it, like it's some kind of venomous snake. “We haven't got all night, Creampuff.” Reluctantly, Laura takes her hand and follows her out of the car.   
“Hey!” She lets out a startled scream as Carmilla suddenly grabs her by the waist and hoists her up on to the roof of the Jeep. “I changed my mind! I don't want to know!”

“Chill, Virgin Mary. I'm not trying to get fresh.” Carmilla snaps as she hops up on to the roof beside her. She flops back, lying down and staring up at the sky with an angry kind of glare.   
“I'm not a virgin.” Laura huffs. “Not that that's important... What are we doing up here? Because, if you're idea of fun is waiting for hungry zombies to come and eat the delicious tasting human, then I'm out.”

“So you taste delicious, and you're not a virgin. Good to know.” The vampire wears a sly grin as Laura stiffens beside her. She watches her fidgeting for a few moments before finally ordering her to lie back. “There's your entertainment, Cupcake.”

Laura lies back, following Carmilla's gaze – which softens increasingly as she watches the twinkling stars above. “The stars? Wow, you vampires really know how to live it up. I mean, sure they're pretty and everything, but they're not exactly Netflix.”

Carmilla mutters something under her breath that sounds suspiciously like 'Ignorant child...' Raising her arm, she points out a group of constellations directly overhead. “See those stars, the ones that look like the mouth of a crocodile, they make up Andromeda. She's the daughter of Cepheus and Cassiopeia, they were king and queen of what we'd now call Ethiopia. That's Cassiopeia over there, theose stars that make a wide 'W'...”

“Uh...all I see are dots.” Laura sheepishly admits. She knows next to nothing about astrology – except maybe the north star and Orion's belt – but she wishes she knew more; so she could see the stars the way Carmilla does.

“Here.” Carmilla reaches over, taking hold of her hand. Using the fingers of her other hand, she draws the basic shapes of the constellations on her palm. Laura lies there in complete silence, absorbing the vampire's every word. “...And that last one, like a giraffe with it's head hanging down, that's Perseus.” Once Laura has grasped the basic shapes of the three constellations, Carmilla begins to tell their story; all the while, carrying on drawing the patterns of the stars in to Laura's skin every time she mentions them by name.

“Andromeda was beautiful. Her mother, Cassiopeia, was so proud of her beauty that she boasted to anyone and everyone that Andromeda was far more beautiful than all the daughters of Poseidon, the god of the sea. This angered the god, so he raised the Kraken from the depths of the ocean, and sent it to ravage Cassiopeia's kingdom.”

“The only way to appease the angry god was to sacrifice Andromeda to him. So she was chained to a rock by the shore, to await the Kraken so it could eat her...” Carmilla paused for effect, smiling a little at the sight of the other girl chewing down on her lip. “Luckily for Andromeda, Perseus was flying overhead and spotted her. Now, Perseus was a warrior. He possessed the head of Medusa, a creature so monstrous that gazing directly at her would turn any living thing to stone. Perseus was smart. He directed the head at the Kraken, turning the sea monster to stone just in the nick of time.”

“What happened to Andromeda?” Laura is captivated by the soft, husky tones of Carmilla's voice as much as she is with the story. She lies on her back, her hand still in Carmilla's as she pictures the characters moving in the night sky.

“She and Perseus fell in love. They got married, and the kingdom was saved; the usual stuff.” Carmilla shrugs. She figured Laura would prefer a story with a happy ending.   
“Do you know any other stories? What's that star?” Laura points blindly up at the night sky, hoping to keep the other girl talking. She may not be the friendliest person left in the world, but she sure is a good story teller.

“That, Princess, is the International Space Station.” Carmilla snorts with laughter. Laura's cheeks go red, but her embarrassment is short lived as the vampire points out another group of constellations and begins to tell their story. Laura has never seen anyone look quite so alive as Carmilla does when she's gazing at the stars.

“Creampuff? Cupcake? …Laura?” Carmilla prods the sleeping girl cuddled in to her side. They've been lying on the roof of the Jeep for hours now. Laura can't keep her eyes open, and that's probably a sign that they should get back inside the car. “Wake up. You fell asleep.”

“Didn't.” Laura grumbles. Their hands are still locked together as she rolls on to her side, inadvertently dragging Carmilla's arm over her.   
“You were snoring...” Carmilla snorts with laughter. “Did you know you talk in your sleep?”   
  
“I do not!” Laura finally sits up, wiping the sleep out of her eyes. “It's cold...”   
“Yes, it is. It was cold an hour ago too; back when I said we should have gone inside.”   
“You weren't finished your story.”

“Story time is over, Pop-tart. Let's get you back inside before you turn in to a popsicle.” Carmilla ushers the tiny human in to the back of the Jeep. It's almost just as cold inside. Laura's teeth are still chattering when she slips in to her sleeping bag.

Carmilla lets out a huff of air as she throws her own sleeping bag over the shivering girl. Laura tries to protest, but she refuses to hear it. “I don't need it. The cold doesn't get to me that much.” She insists, lying down with her back to the other girl.   
“Then why are you shaking?” Laura yawns out the question, already halfway back to sleep. She's too far gone to hear Carmilla's answer; which she mumbles under her breath.

Her shaking has nothing to do with the cold.

* * *

 

Kirsch has spent his fair share of nights in a bathtub. It's usually where he ends up sleeping – or more appropriately, where he crashes out – at parties. The tub in the farmhouse is one of the old copper kind. It's deep, but it's not very long, or wide. Kirsch's legs dangle uncomfortably over the end of it. He lets out an exasperated sigh; the third in as many minutes.

Lying in the other room, Danny stares up at the ceiling, grinding her teeth in frustration. She can hear Kirsch shuffling around in the bathroom. Every breath he takes grates on the young woman's last nerve..   
The room feels too warm. Her clothes itch against her skin. The taste of death and decay clings to the air, sticking at the back of her throat. Her senses are in overdrive, and Kirsch's breathing sounds like a herd of stampeding elephants. It's all too much.

She climbs off the bed and begins pacing like a wild animal in a cage. Five steps to the window. Five steps back to the bed. Ten steps to the door. Five back to the bed, and repeat.

Danny paces restlessly for what feels like hours, waiting for the house to fall silent. The full moon isn't until tomorrow night, but pretty soon she's going to start losing her shit. She needs to slip away from the others before that happens. She'll leave a note, promise to come back in a few days if they'll just wait for her.

It's a few hours before dawn when Danny finally makes her move. All she needs is her overnight bag, and her wits about her. The drop from the bedroom window is steep, but there's a tree right outside. She can jump over to it and climb down without too much trouble.

At least that was the plan. Just as she's tossing her backpack down to the ground, she spots the first walker. It's shambling towards the house, it's progress being hampered by the white picket fence that surrounds the main house. There are half a dozen more trailing behind it. “Oh, fuck...”

There's no way Danny can just take off and leave without warning the others; but waking them means missing her shot to leave without being noticed. If there weren't so many she might consider taking them on herself. “Danny?” The choice is taken away when Kirsch slides up behind her. She's been so focused on the walking corpses outside that she hadn't noticed the bathroom door opening.

“Damn, there's tons of them.” He sighs right by her ear. His breath is hot, and smells faintly of the Cheetos and M&Ms he had for dinner. “What do we do? Bunker down, or take them out?” That's the million dollar question.

They've boarded the downstairs doors and windows up already. They could wait the zombies out, hoping the group would pass them by, but then that runs the risk of attracting a larger hoard. If they decide to fight – and wake LaF and Perry up – they'll still be outnumbered two to one.   
“Search the house. We'll see what we've got in the way of weapons. Then we'll decide.”

Their first search of the house had been to check for zombies or survivors. They hadn't paid a great deal of attention to what was in each individual room. Danny expects to find a few big kitchen knives, maybe a baseball bat and a shovel; stuff like that. Kirsch finds something even better. Something a lot better.

“Hey, D! Look at this.” He walks in to the living room carrying a full size bow, and a quiver full of arrows slung across his shoulder. Danny's eyes light up at the sight of it.   
“Hand it over.”   
“What? No way! I found it!” Kirsch clings tightly to the bow, holding it against his chest like a toddler refusing to share a prized toy.

“Kirsch, which one of us was Captain of the Archery Team?” Danny huffs. She crosses her arms over her chest, waiting for the penny to drop.   
“Uh...”   
“Me! I was, Kirsch! So hand over the damn bow! There's enough arrows there for us to take out most of the herd, but we can't afford to waste any of them.”

The other teen finally relents, handing over the archery equipment. Danny slings the bow and the quiver over her shoulder, snapping at Kirsch to follow her back upstairs. They crawl out of the bathroom window, and up on to the roof.

There's a section over the car port that is nice and flat. Danny sets up there. There's a good view of the surrounding yard. The walking dead are so slow that they practically count as stationary targets – especially the ones stuck behind the fence – picking them off will be like shooting fish in a barrel.

“Booyah!” Kirsch whoops as Danny sinks a perfect head shot in to one of the few remaining walkers. She takes stock of the remaining arrows. Most of her shots have been on target, so she hasn't used as many as she thought she might.   
“Here.”

“For real?” Kirsch grins as Danny hands him the bow. The boy is so excited that if he had a tail it would probably be wagging. “Alright!” The only bow he's ever fired in his life was a plastic toy one. He loads and arrow and fires before he's really had time to aim. The shot goes wide and barely makes it past the front porch.

“Jesus.” Danny rolls her eyes and steps up to help him. “You're not standing right. Move your feet so they're shoulder width apart.”   
“Hey...” Kirsch grumbles as Danny's knee connects with the back of his leg. He shuffles his feet anyway, so he's standing the way she said to. Next, she instructs him on how to hold the grip and the correct way to use the sight window.

She's pressed up right against his back when he draws the string. His fingers fumble, almost releasing the arrow before he's lined up a target. “Focus.” Danny snaps in his ear. They choose the closest walker. He's a big guy, with a head the size of a watermelon. That will make it easier for Kirsch. “Don't hold your breath. Just breathe normally.”

“That's easy for you to say...” Kirsch grunts. He tries ignoring her presence and closes one eye over, aiming with the other. He releases the tension on the string and the arrow shoots forward. It hits the big zombie right in the left eye. “Bullseye! Yes!” Kirsch fist pumps the air.   
“That was pretty good, Slick.” Danny nods her approval, socking him on the shoulder.

They take it in turns firing off the last few arrows. Kirsch lands most of his shots, though not all of them strike the brain; less than half of them even hit the zombies in the head. Danny takes out the last walker with a couple of arrows to spare, so she lets Kirsch fire them off for practise. “We'll go collect the arrows back up; and make sure all those suckers are dead dead.

“Hey, Danny...” Kirsch catches her attention as she's walking towards the ledge. He looks so childlike as he fidgets with the hem of his sweatshirt. “This was nice. You know, you and me doing stuff together. It was kinda like old times.”   
  
“Yeah. It was.” Danny agrees. “Except...not quite.”   
“I miss her too.” Kirsch knows he can sometimes come across as dumb. He isn't as smart as Danny, or LaFontaine, but he knows when his oldest friend is hurting.

“I miss how things used to be... You and me, we were bros for a pretty long time. Remember when we used to play cowboys and –”   
“Things change, Kirsch.” Danny shoots him down. She doesn't want to hear whatever it is he's got to say. “Yeah, we were the best of friends. When we were kids; but things changed... We just... grew apart.”

“You shut me out when you and Laura started dating.” Kirsch has held his tongue for far too long. Laura's gone now, and it seems as good a time as any to say his piece. “Laura and I were still buds, but you... It was like you suddenly hated me... It only got worse when you and Laura broke up. I thought that things would go back to normal after that. That we'd all be friends again.”

Danny hesitates to reply, her back still turned to him and her fists clenched at her sides. For a second, Kirsch thinks she might just storm off and leave him up there alone; but she doesn't. The tension in her shoulders disappears as she sinks to her knees. She crosses her legs as she takes a seat on the roof, holding her head in her hands. “I blamed you.” She finally answers in a quiet voice.

“I blamed you for Laura leaving me. I thought... You and her were always so close. I thought that if she didn't want to be with me, then maybe it was because she wanted to be with you.” Maybe it's the pull of the full moon that is dragging the truth out of her; or maybe it's that she finally realises Kirsch is all she has left. Her parents are gone. Laura's gone. Sure, there's still LaF and Perry, but Kirsch is her oldest friend. They go all the way back to Kindergarten. They were best friends once; before Laura.

“What? No way! Laura was a hottie, but she was like my little sister! I could never...” Kirsch sounds completely affronted by Danny's accusations. “I never felt that way about Laura. Even if I did, she only ever had eyes for you. I don't know why you two broke up. I think Laura was crazy for...” He trails off without finishing his sentence. Even Kirsch is smart enough to know he's skirting a dangerously fine line.

“I always thought...” Danny shakes her head. The truth is, she knows Kirsch wasn't too blame for her and Laura breaking up. She just needed someone to blame. “I'm sorry we left you out.”   
“It ain't nothing.” Kirsch shrugs, picking at a loose thread on his sleeve. “I just figured...maybe we could do more stuff like this? We could be buds again. I could do with a bro right about now.”

“Me too.” Danny admits, shooting him a sheepish smile. She knows he's going to be angry when she slips off and disappears for a couple of days, but that's something she'll have to deal with later. It's safer for everyone if she keeps her distance from them during the full moon. “I've missed this... Us. We used to make a good team.” Danny closes the distance between them, giving Kirsch a brief hug for the second time in as many days.

“We did.” Kirsch agrees, with a smile that reaches from ear to ear. He bumps his shoulder against Danny's as they sit side by side on the roof, watching the sun starting to rise over the horizon in the distance; bringing them one day closer to the full moon.

Danny isn't sure how long she can keep hiding her family secret for. Eventually she's going to have to tell the others. The thought is a daunting one though. She never even told Laura about it. One day she'll have to tell them, but there's been far too much sharing and talk of feelings for one day. Lifting her head from Kirsch's shoulder, she takes hold of his hand and drags him to his feet. “Come on. Those arrows aren't going to collect themselves.”  


* * *

 

“Hey, Carm?”

“Yeah, Creampuff?” Carmilla takes her eyes off the road long enough to glance over at the human teenager riding shotgun next to her. They'd made an early start. If Carmilla keeps her foot on the gas, and they don't need to stop for too many restroom breaks – or zombie hoards – they could make it all the way to the state line by nightfall, and be in Tennessee come the morning.

Their uneasy truce from the night before is holding up. Laura is still quieter than she'd been before finding out her road trip buddy was a member of the undead, but that's mostly a blessing. She's hardly said a word all morning, much to Carmilla's pleasure.

Something seems to be bothering the tiny human girl. She anxiously chews on her lip, before asking, “Um, tonight... Do you...Do you think you could maybe tell me some more stories? About the stars...If you know any more?” Carmilla doesn't answer straight away. Her attention is focused on a group of walkers in the middle of the road. She swerves to the right, cutting in to the opposing lane to avoid them.

“You know what I love about the night sky, Cupcake?” Carmilla tosses her another glance, and Laura shakes her head at her. “The stars and the planets, they're constantly moving. You never see the same sky twice.”   
“So?” Laura questions, not quite getting how that's supposed to answer her question.   
“So, that's a lot of possibility... and plenty more stories to tell.” Carmilla smiles at her.   
  
It's the first genuine smile Laura has seen her wear.  


	9. Chapter 9

“Do you really think we should have the stereo on?” Laura questions as Carmilla switches on the car's music system. The vampire's only answer is to turn the music up even louder. It's some generic pop group or another, not that Carmilla actually cares. They've been driving non-stop since first light, and she just really wants some noise to break up the monotony of it all.   
  
Laura winces at the level of the music. One thing she's had drummed in to her since all of this started is the importance of silence. Noise attracts the dead and the living alike. Laura can't remember the last time she listened to music. It doesn't take long for her to start getting a headache. “Could you at least turn it down?”   
  
“I could.” Carmilla concedes with a smirk. Her hands stay on the wheel, making no attempt to do as Laura asked. She might have been halfway decent last night, but the vampire is back to her usual charming self.   
“Then _will_ you?” The younger girl snaps impatiently. Her head is pounding from the noise.   
“You okay, Cupcake?” Carmilla gives her a sidelong glance, moving to turn the stereo right down.   
  
“I just have a headache is all.” Laura grumbles. She's slumped down in her seat, glaring out at the horizon. The scenery is the same as it has been for the last couple of hours, all corn fields and farmland.   
“You should drink some water. You're probably dehydrated.” The remark is made almost offhandedly; but coming from Carmilla it's practically all out concern.   
  
“Thanks. I will.” Laura reaches in to the backpack sitting at her feet – the one that had previously been full of provisions – and comes up empty. “Damn. I thought I still had another bottle or two left.”   
  
“A bottle?” Carmilla snaps, her eyes narrowing as she turns her head to look at the human girl in disbelief; which is easier said than done at seventy miles an hour. “You're human, Creampuff. You need, like, eight litres a day!”   
“Cups. I need eight cups!” Laura corrects. Carmilla frowns at that.  
“Are you sure?”   
“Positive...”   
  
“Huh. Well, either way, you should have told me you were low on water. We'll need to find you some.” Laura suddenly feels like some kind of house pet, like a puppy that needs to be fed and watered. She'd make a joke about getting her a collar too, but some small part of her worries that Carmilla might just take her up on it.   
  
They lapse back in to silence as Carmilla takes the next exit off the interstate. Taking the surface streets, it doesn't take them long to come across a store. The only problem comes from the fact that it's one of those super stores, chock full to the brim with goodies; along with endless dark corners for the dead to lurk in.  
  
“Okay, Cupcake, here's the plan. I'll dive in and get supplies, and when I come back out you can have your fill.” Carmilla announces, leaving no room for argument; or so she thinks.   
“Why can't I come with? I'm tired of being stuck in this car!”   
  
“Well, Pumpkin, as hilarious as it would be to watch you fall all over your own feet, while fleeing from a pack of ravenous zombies, I'd rather keep you in one piece a little longer. So stay!” She points a well manicured finger at the teenager as she cracks open her door. She's parked around the back of the store, by a set of loading bay doors that are hanging off their hinges. That in itself is a bad sign right there. It only strengthens Carmilla's resolve to keep Laura safely in the car.   
  
After making sure her door is locked behind her, Carmilla clambers up on to the loading bay with all the grace of a house cat. She doesn't even pause before venturing through the broken doors. She has nothing to fear from what goes bump in the dark. Human, animal or corpse, Carmilla tops them all on the food chain.   
  
She slinks through the back of the store, stepping over shredded bodies and pools of gunk; which she thinks might have once been people. The odd zombie shuffles around between the desolate shelves of the warehouse, but they pay Carmilla no mind. Whatever it is that draws them to living, breathing, humans, she doesn't have it.   
  
The warehouse has been pretty much picked clean. Whoever it was that broke in might have lost a few people along the way, but they sure got out with a load of supplies. Carmilla had been hoping there would be enough left for her to just waltz back out to the car the triumphant hero, but it doesn't look like it's going to be that easy.   
  
She pads lightly over to the double doors that lead out on to the shop floor. It's even darker out there. The superstore is huge, and the only source of natural light comes from the windows at the front, along with a few skylights in the roof. It's pitch black, but that doesn't stop Carmilla. She can see as clearly as she could outside in the daylight.   
  
Nothing else in the store is alive. At least not in the traditional sense of the word. Carmilla can hear the shuffling footsteps of shambling corpses as they move amongst the endless aisles. She counts at least ten as she ventures deeper inside the store. Carmilla stops counting after that.   
  
The store is a mess. Shelving units are knocked over and goods are scattered all over. Rain water has pooled on the floor, mixing with the blood from the bodies that Carmilla has to step over at regular intervals. Usually, such carnage would make her hungry; but the blood is old and congealed, and the bodies are rotting. Carmilla would have to be desperate to drink from the dead.   
  
The vampire saunters around, looking for a cart to help carry everything she'll need. It doesn't take her long to find one. Near the front of the store, a one armed zombie is busy ramming a battered shopping cart up against the side of one of the checkouts. “Now that's just sad.”   
  
Carmilla shakes her head as she watches the woman blindly pushing the cart backwards and forwards with her one good arm. “Sorry, Ma'am. I think my need is greater than yours.” Carmilla gives the cart a yank, tugging it towards her and knocking what remains of the elderly woman to the ground.  
  
It doesn't take Carmilla long to scrounge up enough food and water to fill the cart. It's slim pickings, with most of the good stuff having already been pillaged, but Laura seems impressed with her haul when she shows back up at the car.   
  
“Heads up, Shorty!” Carmilla tosses the younger girl a bottle of water while she's packing her loot in to the trunk. She gets a grumbled 'thanks' in return. Laura's attention is buried in a book. It's some tattered old paperback that she found in the car. “Gee, thanks so much, Carmilla. It's so _kind_ of you to go risking your life in that store...”   
“You said yourself that zombies aren't interested in you.” Laura points out, still not even looking up from her book.   
  
“That doesn't mean a 'thank you' wouldn't go a miss.” The vampire huffs. She turns tail and heads back inside the store. She's in the process of filling the cart for the second time, when she hears a noise that is distinctly different from the groaning and shuffling of the walkers.   
  
The front doors open and close with a soft clicking, incapable of being heard by human ears. The small noise is followed by a clatter – as someone stumbles over a wayward can on the floor – and then by a hiss. “Watch it Clown Feet! What happened to being a 'stealth ninja'?”   
  


* * *

  
  
“I've been thinking. Maybe we should set up camp here? Just for a week or two.” Danny suggests over breakfast. It's the first time in months that the four of them have actually sat down at a table for a meal.   
“Wha'? 'y?” Kirsch asks, his mouth full of Perry's perfectly fluffy pancakes. He quickly swallows as Danny glares at him. “My bad...sorry.”   
  
“As I was saying, I think it's time we stopped to catch a breath. It's been a tough couple of weeks, and we're all tired. This is the best thing for us.” Danny has been up most of the night, thinking this over, and she's pretty sure Perry is about to have some kind of meltdown if they get straight back on the road.   
  
Not surprisingly, Perry is the first to speak up. “I, for one, think that's a terrific idea. We _should_ take some time for ourselves.”   
“I'm with Perr.” LaF shrugs as Danny looks at them for their answer.   
  
“I guess I'm in.” Kirsch pipes up, knowing he doesn't have much of a choice anyway.   
“Great. Then it's settled.” That's one less thing for Danny to worry about when she takes off. It will be easier for her to slip away through the night, and return in the morning, if they're staying at the farmhouse.   
  
“We'll need more provisions if we're going to stay. Kirsch and I can go on a supply run and be back before dark.”   
“Good plan, D-Bear!” Kirsch grins from ear to ear at the suggestion of him and Danny heading out together; if he had a tail, it would be wagging from side to side with enthusiasm.   
  
“So where are we going?” Kirsch asks before they've even gotten in to his truck. Which makes sense, seeing as he's the one who will be driving. Danny had hoped they'd at least be out of the drive before he started asking questions. “I didn't see any houses for miles when we were driving up here. Should we try heading north?”   
“Actually, I was thinking we might try for a bigger score. Remember that supermarket we passed-”

“Oh! No! No way!” Kirsch starts shaking his head from side to side, like a toddler throwing a tantrum. “ _Dude!_ Have you ever seen _any_ zombie movies? Big stores, Supermarkets and malls are all big no-go-zones! Everybody knows that people who go to places like that, in zombie movies, always get bitten! Then more people show up, and _they_ get bitten. Then survivors like us show up and –”  
  
“Get bitten?” Danny offers, rolling her eyes from across the other side of the truck.   
“Exactly, bro! This a bad idea! There probably won't even be any food left back there.”   
“We can get food from the houses nearby.” Danny starts with the hard sell, hoping to win Kirsch over. “Think about it, Kirsch. There could be camping equipment, batteries, tools, solar powered lights –”  
“Zombies, zombies and, oh yeah, even _more_ zombies!”   
  
“ _Wilson!_ Come on!” Danny whines at him. Her hand moves to his knee without her thinking, and he almost wipes them off the road as he inadvertently presses his foot down on the gas. “Kirsch! Jesus!”   
“Sorry! Sorry...” He ducks his head, trying to hide his embarrassment.   
  
“Nice reflexes, Dumb Ass.” Danny snorts, more amused than anything else. Kirsch gives her a sidewards glance. If he didn't know any better, he'd think she was buzzed. There's a restlessness about her, like she's filled with a nervous kind of energy.   
  
“Danny, we _can't_ go to a superstore. We should try some place else. Some place safer.”  
“What, are you too chicken? Huh? Chick-chick-chicken?” Danny laughs, making squawking noises and flapping her arms about to tease him.   
“No!” Kirsch huffs indignantly. His grip on the steering wheel tightens as he squints out at the road in front of them. 

“Come on, Kirsch! We might even find a grill...” She nudges him in the arm, hoping to entice him to give in and agree with her.   
“What exactly would we BBQ with it? The twenty cans of _Spam_ we have back at the house?”   
“I've got the bow in the back. We could go hunting afterwards, in the woods. Maybe bag a deer! What do you say?”   
  
“I think you're crazy...and I must be too.” He sighs, taking the turn in the road that leads towards the supermarket. Kirsch shouldn't be surprised; Danny's been talking him in to stupid stuff since they were kids.   
  
The parking lot in front of the superstore is mostly deserted. The few cars that are there are burnt out husks. Papers and trash litter the lot, along with upturned shopping carts, and the odd body. It looks like a lot of people have already tried to raid the store. There's no way to tell how many succeeded; and how many are still inside, waiting for some fresh meat to waltz right in.   
  
Danny surveys the empty lot, assessing their options. Kirsch has the good sense to park right up in front of the automatic doors. The power has been out for a long time, and the glass doors are closed over and covered in grime and blood. Danny makes out two shadowy shapes, stumbling around just inside the foyer. Kirsch spots them too.   
  
“Should we take the back way in?” He suggests, keeping the engine on his truck running. Danny shakes her head. They have no idea what the back of the store looks like. At least they know what they're dealing with out here.   
“No. We go this way. You grab the gun. I'll get the bow.”   
  
Broken glass crunches under Danny's boots as she climbs down out of the truck. There's a chill in the air, but Danny feels like she's cooking in her own skin. She's been running a fever since last night; experience tells her it will only get worse as the day goes on.   
  
Danny hefts the quiver of arrows over her shoulder. “Ready?” She turns to make sure Kirsch is following her. He nods, tucking his gun in to his belt. Kirsch keeps his hatchet in his hand, ready for anything that comes at them.   
“Let's do this, bro.”   
  
The two of them pry the electronic doors open as quietly as they can. Danny takes out a couple of walkers with some well aimed arrows. Once they're inside the store, Kirsch closes the doors back over, just far enough to stop any more of the undead lumbering inside after them.   
  
“Remember, we need to be totally silent.” Danny whispers at Kirsch as she retrieves one of her arrows out of the corpse at her feet.   
“I _know,_ Lawrence! I'm a stealth ninja!” Kirsch replies in the same hushed tone, heading to fetch the other arrow. He's too busy looking at Danny to notice the tin can right by his feet.   
  
Danny is horrified as his left boot connects with the tin, sending it flying across the floor and thudding against the side of a magazine rack. Kirsch just stands there, open mouthed and waiting for the fallout. “Watch it Clown Feet!”

 


	10. Chapter 10

“Give me strength...” Carmilla lets out a sigh as she glances up at the security mirror hanging over the front door. It's the kind of concave glass mirror designed to give store security a view around blind corners. Even in the low light, it gives Carmilla a perfect view of the two delinquents who have just broken in to the store. She isn't happy to recognise them.   
  
The gargantuan redhead – who is busy berating the guy she's with – is Danny. Laura's ex. Though from what Laura's told her, it sounds like they were starting to get back together before Laura fell from that cliff. Carmilla doesn't know much about the girl, just that she's a year older than Laura, and the younger girl still loves her; Carmilla hates her for that reason alone.

The guy, Kirsch, if Carmilla remembers rightly, grew up down the street from Laura. He was the one climbing down the face of the cliff to help her when she went over. He's the one that Laura thinks is dead, because Carmilla told her as much.   
  
If Laura spots either of them, then the game is up. Carmilla would still take her back home to Silas, whether Laura went willingly or not, but it would be so much easier if the human remains oblivious to the fact that Carmilla is effectively kidnapping her.   
  
Likewise, she can't let these two find out that Laura is still alive. Carmilla worked damn hard to make it look like Laura was killed, to avoid this kind of thing ever happening. Laura was hers now. If Big Foot and the Man Child wanted a cute, tiny, obnoxious, human, then they would just have to go and find themselves another one.   
  
Carmilla tries to back slowly up the aisle, hoping to make a hasty getaway before she can be spotted. She barely takes two steps before an arrow comes soaring towards her. It lands with a _thunk_ , lodging itself in the wall right beside Carmilla's ear. Danny follows after it, her bow raised and her arm drawn back.   
  
“Danny! Wait! She's alive!” Kirsch comes up behind her, grabbing hold of her wrist. Danny ignores him, glaring at the stranger like she knows exactly what Carmilla has done. What she's taken from her. “Danny!” Kirsch tries again to get through to her. It takes a while longer, but she eventually lowers the bow.   
  
“Sorry about that. Danny gets a little jumpy.” Kirsch apologises for her. He shoots Carmilla a wide grin and extends out his hand. “I'm Kirsch, by the way. It's sure nice to meet you.” Carmilla just stares at the offered hand, until he lets it drop back down to his side.   
  
Kirsch takes her silence as fear, and he does his best to try and reassure her that they don't mean any harm. Danny doesn't buy her act. She watches the other woman with thinly veiled caution. Something is off about her. Danny can't quite put her finger on exactly what that is, but she knows it in her gut.   
  
“Don't be scared. We won't hurt you... Are you here with anybody? Do you got people?” Kirsch takes a step forward, and Carmilla scurries back, perfectly playing the role of a frightened young woman, on her own, in the middle of the apocalypse.   
  
“I don't want any trouble, mister. I was just leaving...” She turns around a picks up the cardboard box at her feet. With only a cautionary glance over her shoulder, she heads for the warehouse, calling over her shoulder, “Watch out for walkers.” She makes sure she shouts out loud enough to attract some unwanted attention, ensuring the dynamic duo will be too busy to follow after her.   
  
She can hear the carnage as the closest zombies start slinking out of the dark, heading straight for the two teens. Carmilla leaves them to it, jamming the warehouse door shut with a mop. Laura's friends can just go back out the way they came in.  
  
“Buckle up, Creampuff!” Carmilla tosses the box she's holding at Laura, jumping in the car right after it. She turns the engine over and slams her foot down on the gas pedal. “The locals were getting restless. I figured it was time I got out of there before they sniffed you out, Pop-tart.” She explains, in case Laura is curious as to why she just high tailed it out of there so quickly.   
  
If the human girl notices her uneasy state, then she doesn't bring it up. She's too busy pawing through the box Carmilla just handed her. “You got me books?” Her face lights up like it's Christmas morning. It makes Carmilla's second trip in to the store seem completely worth it.   
  
“I think the words you're looking for are 'thank you'.” Carmilla bites back a smile of her own, watching Laura rummaging through the box.   
“Thanks, Carm!” The unpredictable human launches forward, wrapping her arms around Carmilla's neck as she thanks her with a hug.

Had the vampire's reactions been a little slower, they probably would have ended up in a ditch. As it is, Carmilla manages to keep them safely on the road as she shrugs the younger girl off. “Don't mention it... have you had anything to drink yet?”

* * *

 

“I swear to god, if I see that bitch again, her ass is mine!” Danny grumbles, while pulling bits of small intestine out of her hair. Kirsch is in an equally dishevelled state, with his t-shirt ripped and torn so much that it's barely clinging on to his chest. There's dry blood caked to his hands and face, though thankfully none of it is his own.   
“She was probably just scared of us.” He shrugs back at her. “You can't really blame her. _Someone_ did almost shoot her with an arrow.” 

“I thought she was a walker.” Huffs Danny. Even when she'd realised the woman was human, and very much alive, she'd still felt unsettled by her. Maybe it's just the time of the month; it's not unusual for her to start getting paranoid and territorial around the full moon.   
  
“Besides, _mister,_ what was there to be afraid of? You were there to be her big, strong, protector!” Danny shoves past him, gritting her teeth.   
“Uh...okay...Did I do something wrong, bro?” Kirsch chases after her, not knowing to quit while he's behind. He has that kicked puppy look about him, the same kind he used to wear whenever he'd strike out when they were playing softball as kids. Danny's anger subsides as she climbs in to the truck.   
“Sorry, Kirsch. I just...”   
  
“Forget it. It's okay... You were right. What you said this morning, we all need some time to cool off. And, hey, we got three carts of stuff out of there! I'm sure Perry could cook us up a storm. What do you say?”  
“Sounds good.” Danny agrees. It's later than she expected by the time they get back on the road. Their hunting trip will have to wait until another day. Kirsch doesn't seem to mind though. Danny's pretty sure she could punch him in the face and he'd stillwind up apologising to her.   
  


* * *

  
  
Carmilla's stomach rumbles as the day drags on. Feeding on the two would-be carjackers had revitalised the vampire some, but her hunger is never that far from the surface. She sneaks sidelong glances at Laura, who is curled up in the front passenger seat with her head buried in one of the books Carmilla got for her. She's been quietly reading for hours, completely engrossed with the words in front of her. Candy bar wrappers and empty soda cans litter the dashboard in front of the teenager; Carmilla is genuinely surprised at how quiet and still the other girl can be after consuming so much sugar.   
  
“What you reading there, Creampuff?” Carmilla cranes her neck to read the spine of the book that Laura's cradling in her hands. She didn't stop to read all of the titles she picked up back at the store, just threw them all in a box and hoped there'd be something there that the human would like.   
  
“Pride, Prejudice and _zombies?_ ” Carmilla cracks up at that. Even Laura manages a genuine smile as she marks the page and tucks the book down beside her. She stretches out, feeling all stiff and cooked up.   
“Could we stop for a little bit? I could use some fresh air.”   
  
“So crack a window.” Carmilla's foot never lets up off the gas pedal. She's already put a good sixty miles between them and the store where she ran in to Laura's friends. It's still not enough.   
“Carm, come on!” Laura whines, the noise grating on the vampire. Her face is doing that pouting thing though, and Carmilla finds herself pulling over at the side of the road. They're only about twenty miles out from the state line, and the road seems pretty clear. Five minutes can't hurt.   
  
“Thank you!” Laura beams, her whole face lighting up. She unbuckles her seat belt and reaches out to give Carmilla a brief hug, before jumping out to stretch her legs. This whole 'hugging' thing is becoming quite the common occurrence; not that Carmilla minds.   
  
She watches Laura closely as she kicks an empty can along the road, the afternoon sun bathing her in a golden light. She's resilient, the vampire will give her that. The world has gone to hell in a hand-basket, and she's lost everyone she ever loved, but Laura's still managing to hold it together. She'll do well in Silas. 

“Okay, Cupcake. Time to get moving!” Carmilla drums her fingers impatiently against the steering wheel. The stench of Bigfoot, and the Puppy that was following her around, still lingers like a bad smell. Carmilla wants to put as must distance between them as possible. Laura won't be nearly so easy to control if she finds out that Carmilla lied to her about her friends. 

“Just five more minutes?” Laura pleads, those big brown eyes of hers working their magic on the vampire.  
“Fine. _Five minutes._ ” Carmilla relents, making a show of rolling her eyes.   
“Why don't you come out here, Grumpy Cat?” Laura teases, gesturing for Carmilla to come join her out in the sun. “It's not like vampires really burn up in the daylight, is it?”

“No, but the sunburn is a bitch.” Carmilla protests, but she's already climbing out of the car. Alabama, even in the middle of September, is hot and dry. She'd planned on taking the most direct route home to Silas, through Tennessee and Missouri and in to Nebraska, but if Laura's friends were heading to Montana then they'd use the same route.

That's why Carmilla has decided on a less direct route, going through Mississippi instead. It will take a little longer, but there'll be less chance of running in to Laura's friends. Carmilla doesn't mind the thought of being on the road with Laura for a few extra days. She kind of likes having the tiny human all to herself. Going home to Silas will mean having to be around other people again, people like Mother and Will. Carmilla isn't quite ready for that yet.

She takes shade under a tree by the side of the road. It catches Laura's attention, and all of a sudden the tiny human is clambering up it with the grace of an orang-outang. The younger girl is clumsy and awkward at the best of times, and Carmilla has visions of her falling out of the tree and cracking her skull open like a watermelon, but Laura seems to be a natural climber. She's six feet off the ground before Carmilla can even call out for her to get down. 

“Make me!” She laughs, her face alight with a childish kind of joy. With her father being a park ranger, Laura had grown up around trees. The tomboy had learned to climb before she could even talk. As if taunting Carmilla further, she wraps her legs around one of the thicker branches and hangs upside down, sticking her tongue out at the brooding vampire.   
  
“I'm serious, _Laura_ ! I'm not helping you if you fall and hurt yourself!” Healing her the first time had taken too much from Carmilla to start with. Feeding on those two car-jackers had only just about gotten her back up to speed.   
  
“I've never fallen out of a tree in my life!” Laura argues. She looks highly amused by how pale Carmilla has gone while watching her hang from the branch. “If you're _that_ concerned then you'll just have to come up and get me... Unless you're too chicken?”   
  
Carmilla thinks about shifting right there and then, but the shock of seeing the vampire change in to a fully grown panther would probably end up _making_ her fall. Instead, she stands up and stretches out. She offers Laura a toothy smile, deliberately showing off a hint of fang. “I'll give you to the count of three, Creampuff. Make me come up there and get you and you'll regret it.”    


“Really?” Laura asks, righting herself again so she's straddling the branch, instead of hanging from it. “And what's the big bad vampire going to do?” Laura's taunting is almost flirtatious. Carmilla bites. She can't help herself. In the blink of an eye she's halfway up the tree.   
  
Her inhuman speed startles Laura, and she almost ends up falling anyway. Carmilla is there to catch her in the nick of time. She wraps an arm around the younger girl's waist, pulling her flush against her as she leans back against the thick trunk of the tree. Laura lets out a nervous laugh, covering Carmilla's hand with her own. “Wow, you're fast.”   
  
“I'm a lot of things, Cupcake.” Carmilla's voice is a soft purr in her ear. It has Laura's stomach doing somersaults, though she can't say exactly why. The pair lapse in to an easy silence, just sitting there up in the tree.  

Laura's eyes drift shut, and she starts to wonder when she started feeling so safe around the vampire. “Carm?”  
“Hmm?” The other girl's breath tickles the side of Laura's neck, sending shivers down her spine.   
“What's Silas like?” Behind her, Carmilla's lips arch up in to a smirk at the question. 

“It's home.” Carmilla sounds wistful. “It's a small town, there's less than four-hundred people. The same families have lived there for generations, since Mother founded Silas. They know what we are. We live in peace... It might sound corny, but it's true. We keep our people safe. We have no need for a police force, or court houses, or prisons. There's no murder, no robbery. Everyone has a job, a home...a place.”  
  
“It sounds nice.” Laura lays her head back against Carmilla's shoulder, exposing her long, slender, neck and the pulsing veins within it. “Maybe I could check it; before I head on to Montana.”  
“Maybe.” Carmilla agrees, knowing the other girl will never leave Silas once she steps foot in it. “You'll like it... We should get back on the road. It'll be dark soon. It's a full moon tonight, it brings all the crazies out.” 

 

* * *

  
Kirsch frowns as, standing at the bathroom window, he catches sight of Danny sneaking out the back door. She's carrying a heavy looking backpack, and keeps sneaking furtive glances over shoulder as she heads for the orchard that leads in to the woods. It's almost dark out, and Kirsch has no idea why she would be sneaking out without telling anyone. She doesn't even have her bow; trying to get her to put that thing down willingly is next to impossible, so for her to slip out without it seems all the more suspicious. 

Kirsch heads back in to the bedroom he and Danny shared last night. He stops only long enough to grab his machete and tuck the pistol they found in to his belt. He doesn't bother letting LaFontaine or Perry know what's going on. He hopes to have Danny safely back inside before the others notice either of them have gone.   
  
Going in to the woods during the day is dangerous enough. He has no idea why Danny would wander off in them so close to nightfall; especially alone, and seemingly unarmed. She at least has the good sense to move quietly, though her movements seem unsteady. She looks like she's been drinking.   
  
Kirsch's first instinct is to call out to her when he gets close enough, but if there are zombies in these woods then he doesn't want to go ahead and announce their position to them. He needs to get closer to her, like within grabbing distance. Even if he has to drag her the whole way back to the house, he isn't leaving without her.   
  
“Danny!” He hisses, trying to get her attention. “Danny!” She doesn't hear him as she hops over a fallen tree and disappears from sight. Kirsch rushes to catch up to her, not caring about just how loud his footfalls are. He stops as he reaches the uprooted tree, peering down a small ravine and stumbling upon the strangest sight.   
  
In the time it's taken him to catch up to her, Danny has wrapped a length of chain around the thick trunk of an ancient oak tree. She's busy wrapping one end around her ankle, and fixing it in place with what looks like a combination padlock. Kirsch frowns. He's never been the smartest guy on earth – even after the apocalypse wiped out most of the population – but he's pretty sure there can be no logical reason for why Danny is chaining herself to a tree.   
  
“Lawrence?” He calls out, his voice carrying just far enough for Danny to hear him. The last thing Kirsch expects is for her head to snap up, and a growl to escape her lips. Danny's usually pale blue eyes are _glowing._ There is no other way to describe the piercing amber eyes glaring up at him. “D-Danny?” 

He watches helplessly as her head snaps back and her spine arches at an inhuman angle. She drops to her hands and knees, biting back an agonising scream. Kirsch forgets about everything else right there and then, all of the weird stuff melts in to background when he realises Danny is in pain.

“Don't!” Another growl rips its way out of her, but this time she manages to form actual words. “Run...”   
“What?” Kirsch paused, one leg already over the trunk of the fallen tree. Danny is twitching and shaking as she reaches out for the other end of the chain. The sun is rapidly disappearing beneath the tree line and she's running out of time. 

Danny can feel the change coming. She's put it off for too long, trying to keep her secret from the others. The moon is creeping up in to the darkening sky, and the monster inside of her is clawing it's way out. She won't be able to control it. Not after keeping it locked up for so long. Danny manages to give Kirsch a pleading look as her humanity starts to slip away. “I... Said... Run!”

 

 

 


	11. Chapter 11

“Fuck, fuck, fuck…” Kirsch’s lungs are burning, and his legs are starting to cramp up as he crashes through the dense undergrowth of the woods. He’s acutely aware that if he stops he’s a dead man. He can hear the snarling coming from behind him getting closer and closer.  
  
Then there’s the low hum of the dead. The woods are filled with walkers. One or two zombies are easy to dispose of, but get enough of them in one place and they start to take on a pack mentality. That’s not to say that they _think._ The dead are just walking corpses, fueled by the desire to feed on human flesh.

Kirsch has never been so grateful for the stupidity of zombies as he manages to dart around them without having to slow down too much. He can’t afford to stop. Even throwing a cautious glance over his shoulder seems like a huge risk. 

The thing chasing him - he _knows_ it’s Danny, but he can’t bring himself to believe it - is gaining ground on him. Kirsch was a track star, once upon a time, and his peak physical condition is the only thing that’s keeping him ahead of the overgrown wolf that, less than an hour ago, was Danny Lawrence.

A quick moving walker gets the better of him as it darts out from behind the thick trunk of an ancient oak tree. It’s one of the fresher ones, a middle-aged guy that’s probably been dead less than a month, which makes his movements less jerky and more coordinated.  
  
Stubby, rotting, fingers dig in to Kirsch’s shoulders as the zombie pushes him back, throwing him off balance. He hits the densely packed earth with the zombie still on top of him, knocking the air right out of his lungs and his machete out of his hand.  
  
Kirsch actually sees stars, and not just the ones in the night sky overhead. His head is spinning and bile rises up in the back of his throat, but he doesn’t have time to stop and consider any of this. Not while a reanimated corpse is busy trying to use it’s yellowing teeth to crack his skull open like a walnut.  
  
His breathing is still labored from running for his life. It’s hard for Kirsch to catch his breath while wrestling with a zombie. Even if he manages to get out from under his new friend, and sink his machete through his brain - all without getting bitten or scratched - he still has the not so distant growling and snarling to deal with.  
  
By the time a second and third walker shamble in to sight, Kirsch is resigned to write this off as the worst night of his life. There’s also the distinct possibility that it may be his last.  
  
“God. Give. Me. A. Break!” Kirsch huffs, still struggling to deal with the zombie that is trying to eat his face off. His prayers don’t go unanswered. Help arrives in an unlikely form, as a huge, russet colored wolf explodes out of the underbrush.  
  
It makes light work of the zombie which was previously on top of Kirsch, ripping it to pieces with its teeth. Bits and pieces of what was once a man are still flailing on the ground as the wolf moves on to the second zombie; a young woman already missing her left arm.  
  
Kirsch knows he should be moving. Once Danny’s finished playing with the walkers, her attention will be back squarely on him. He knows he needs to get his butt in to gear, but his mind and body are at odds.  
  
Breathless, exhausted, and possibly suffering from shock, he can’t find it in him to stand, let alone run for his life. His eyes are wide as he watches the human sized wolf rip the last zombie to shreds.  
  
Blood and drool hang from its parted jaws as it finishes with its snack, and turns to move on to the main course. Its tongue smacks against its lips, and a low growl rips from the back of its throat.  
  
“D…D…Danny?” Kirsch stumbles over her name, while shuffling backwards. He holds his hands out towards her, as if that would stop the wolf from advancing on him. “Easy babe- Uh, Danny… ma’am…” Kirsch winces as she growls at him again.  
  
He’s used to his childhood friend biting his head off, but not quite so literally. He can’t take his eyes off of her teeth; they’re practically the same size as his clenched fists. “Danny, please… You don’t want to do this. I don’t know how much of you is in there, but please… please don’t eat me!”

 

* * *

 

 

The night air outside of the Jeep is still and quiet. Carmilla sits up front, her knees drawn up to her chest and an open book resting on her lap. The only sounds disturbing the peace are coming from inside of the car. Laura is fast asleep in the back, snoring softly.  
  
Carmilla can’t help but keep glancing back at her. The younger girl’s hair is loose and hanging over her face, and she’s buried under two sleeping bags and a picnic blanket.  
  
The nights are getting colder. Even under all those covers, Laura had been shivering before she’d finally fallen asleep. Carmilla knows Laura won’t last much longer out there in the open. She needs to get her back to Silas.  
  
Carmilla’s been dragging her heels on the drive north - taking the back roads, and deliberately getting them lost - in the hope of buying time. She needs to win Laura over before they get to Silas. She has to make the teenager understand that it’s the only safe place left. Her dream of living in the mountains is just that, a pipe-dream.

Carmilla glances back at her again as Laura starts muttering in her sleep. She does that most nights. Usually she’s calling out for her father, or for Danny and the rest of her friends. Tonight is different.  
  
Tonight, the teenager tosses restlessly as she whimpers softly in the dark, with something unseen chasing her. Carmilla can’t be sure what it is that plagues her. Maybe it’s walkers, or maybe it’s vampires. Either way, she seems terrified.  
  
“Hey, Cupcake,” Carmilla leans over the back of the front seat and tries to shake the younger girl awake. She doesn’t stir. “Laura… Laura!” She tries raising her voice, but when that doesn’t work she climbs in to the back.  
  
“Hey, hey, Laura… Laur.” She gently shakes her shoulder, trying to rouse her from her nightmare.  
“No! No… Dad…” Laura lets out another whimper as she turns and buries her face against the side of Carmilla’s thigh. “They’re coming…”  
  
“Shh, it’s okay.” Carmilla is uncharacteristically gentle as she tries to soothe the troubled teen. She runs her fingers lightly through her hair, offering Laura the only kind of comfort she can give her. “It’s okay. Laura, you’re safe. You were dreaming. It was just a dream.”

Carmilla carries on whispering softly in the dark, stroking Laura’s hair until long after she’s woken up. Her previously heavy breathing and racing heartbeat settle in to a pattern that could be considered normal, and the tension eases from her shoulders as she relaxes against Carmilla.  
  
The vampire shifts so that she’s lying down beside her, the fingers of her left hand still combing through Laura’s hair. The fragile human girl doesn’t think twice about resting her head on Carmilla’s chest, and draping her arm over her stomach.  
  
Carmilla is a virtual stranger. She’s known her for little more than a week, but she’s saved Laura’s life twice over. In a world of pain and loss, the vampire’s presence has become oddly comforting.  
  
Carmilla’s right arms wraps around the other girl as she begins rubbing soothing circles against the skin of her back. The gesture is meant to be comforting, but the mood changes once her hand slips under Laura’s shirt.  
  
Her heart begins beating wildly again, and her breathing hitches as Carmilla’s fingers brush over her bare skin; though, this time, the biological response has nothing to do with fear. Something has shifted between them in that instant. Carmilla can feel it.  
  
The tension between them is so poignant that she can practically taste it on her tongue and feel it crackling in the air; like a thunderstorm that’s just about to break.

Laura doesn’t move a muscle. She doesn’t crane her neck back to look up at Carmilla, nor does she pull away. She’s so still that she might have fallen back to sleep. Except Carmilla knows otherwise.  
  
Her breathing is too irregular for the other girl to be sleeping. Laura is very much awake, and conscious of the way the pads of Carmilla’s fingers are dancing lightly over her skin.  
  
They lie like that for what seems like an eternity, until Laura is finally arching her neck back and Carmilla is moving to meet her half way. The storm finally breaks as their lips meet.

Carmilla’s hand cups the back of Laura’s neck, while Laura reaches out to hold her cheeks. The kiss is frantic and desperate. Tongues meet and teeth clash as Carmilla takes advantage of Laura’s parted lips to deepen the kiss.  
  
The human girl moans in to Carmilla’s open mouth. The sound alone is almost enough to drive her over the edge. Laura is lying completely on top of her now, seemingly unaware of the way she’s grinding down against the vampire; and the effect it’s having on Carmilla’s already feeble self control.  
  
“Laura…” Carmilla lets out a low growl as a warning, though their lips never part. The shock of hearing the other girl use her name stops the teenager in her tracks. She goes completely still again.  
  
Carmilla opens her eyes and finds Laura nervously watching her. The fear of rejection is written all over her pretty face. “Did I… Did I do something wrong?” She bites at her lip and the action stirs something primal within Carmilla. She takes hold of Laura’s cheeks, crashing their lips together again.  
  
They kiss until they’re both breathless - which is quite a feat for a vampire - and even when they pull apart again Carmilla keeps her arms wrapped around the younger girl, holding her close.  
  
Laura still has her eyes closed as they rest their foreheads together. Carmilla places lazy kisses against her jaw as she waits for her to catch her breath back. “Hey.” The vampire cracks a smile as Laura finally opens her eyes again.  
“Hey.”  
  
“You didn’t do anything wrong.” Carmilla answers her earlier question, putting Laura’s mind at ease. “You did everything right. _Too_ right.” She chuckles softly, staring up in amazement at this tiny human that can make her feel things she hasn’t felt in close to a century.   
  
“I didn’t want things getting out of hand. I don’t want you doing anything you’re not comfortable with…”  
“Oh. Oh, right.” Laura nods as she picks up on Carmilla’s meaning. A self conscious blush spreads over her cheeks as she realises she probably wouldn’t have stopped, had it not been for Carmilla.  
  
“That’s very… old fashioned of you.” Laura laughs. It’s the nervous kind of laughter that she does when she’s not sure just what’s going on. She’s attracted to Carmilla, and she’s even started to like her company of late, but they’re still like strangers. Not to mention that the other woman is a centuries old vampire.  
  
“Hey! Some of us were brought up to be _ladies,_ Creampuff.” Carmilla cracks, earning a snort of laughter from the teenager. Laura buries her face in the crook of Carmilla’s neck, blowing out hot air as she laughs against the vampire’s skin. 

“And when was that, exactly? The nineteen fifties?” Laura teases, quite content with just lying on top of the other girl and having her carry on playing with her hair.  
“More like the nineties… The sixteen nineties.” Carmilla scoffs.  
  
“Wow… you’re so old!”  
“Hey, watch it Hollis! You’re not too old for me to put you across my knee you know.” Carmilla’s husky voice makes the warning sound more like an invitation. Laura swallows hard, and focuses on just keeping her breathing steady.   
  
“What happened to not taking things too far?” She eventually replies, her breath still hot and ragged against the side of Carmilla’s neck; it’s enough to drive the poor vampire to an early - second - grave.  
  
Carmilla actually lets out a groan of frustration. One which Laura takes great pride in. “You’re right.” She sighs, moving only to pull the discarded covers back over her human. “You should probably get back to sleep… before this senile old bat forgets she was brought up to be a lady.”  
  
Laura’s lips curl up in to a smile as she nestles back in to Carmilla’s side, her nightmares all but forgotten. “Goodnight Carm.”

 

* * *

 

 

Blinding sunlight hits Danny square in the face as a gentle breeze blows through the trees, disturbing the canopy of leaves that had previously been shielding her.  
  
Danny rouses slowly. It always takes her a while to come around after a full moon. She lies on a bed of dirt and fallen leaves, as naked as the day she was born. Fall is bleeding in to winter, and the ground where she’s lying is littered with crisp, dead leaves.  
  
They crunch underneath her as she sits up, running a shaky hand through her fiery hair. The world around her blinks in to focus as she stares down at her open palms. They’re streaked in blood.  
  
She swallows, tasting old pennies and rotting meat. Bile rises in her throat and she fights the urge to puke. Danny doesn’t want to see what she ate last night.  
  
Her memory is hazy. She was more monster than human the previous night. Suppressing her inner monster for so long can do that to her. Before the world ended - back when Danny’s house had backed on to the woods and she’d had her father to guide her - she’d been able to turn regularly; not just at the whim of the full moon.  
  
She remembers shackling herself to a tree, or at least she’d tried to. Kirsch had showed up. The realization hits Danny like a runaway freight train. “Kirsch?” She calls out, her voice raw from a night no doubt spent howling at the moon.  
  
“Kirsch? Wilson!” Panic rises up in her chest, swelling to the point of choking up her throat. Danny was born, not made, like the half-breeds so popular in common modern werewolf lore. Her father had been a pure-breed wolf, and her mother a human, but Danny had taken after her father.  
  
He’d raised her properly, teaching her right from wrong from an early age. Danny had never lost control in her wolf form before, but then she’d never gone months without shifting before. If something has happened to Kirsch…  
  
The sound of bodies shuffling around in the undergrowth kicks Danny in to action. She’s standing in the woods, naked and weaponless. First things first, she has to get back to her campsite.  
  
She sniffs at the air, picking up on the usual scents of the forest. The ground is still damp from the rain the night before. The downpour has washed away any scent that Kirsch might have left behind.  
  
All Danny picks up on is damp earth, and the pungent scent of cloves and garlic. She follows the scent for at least a mile, trekking through the woods in her bare feet. Branches scratch at her legs and thighs, leaving shallow cuts that sting more than anything else.  
  
She makes it back to the site of the tree she’d intended to chain herself to for the night, guided by the smell of the cloves and garlic that she’d tied in a muslin square and hung from the strap of her backpack. Another one of her father’s tricks.

Her bag is hanging from one of the branches of the tree, suspended by a rope that Danny has anchored to the ground by a wooden stake. She undoes the rope, which is being held in place by a bowline knot; the kind Mr Hollis had taught her back in scouts.

She and Laura had gone to scouts along with Kirsch, because back then - before their hormones got in the way - the trio had been inseparable.  
  
Danny rummages through her bag, pulling out the clothes she’d packed the night before. The grey track suit she pulls on is soft and warm against her skin, and her tennis shoes are functional for running in.  
  
Once Danny is all packed up she starts calling out for Kirsch again. Maybe he got away. Maybe he climbed up a tree and fell asleep…  
  
Or maybe its his blood on her hands, and Danny has killed her oldest friend. Laura, her parents, Kirsch, one way or another she’s the reason they’re all dead.  
  
After another hour of searching the woods, with the sun creeping ever higher up in to the sky as the morning breaks, Danny gives in. She doesn’t have her bow, or anything else that could be considered a weapon, and she doesn’t trust herself to turn again. She’s a sitting duck for walkers.  
  
She heads back to the farmhouse, dragging her heels as she cuts through the orchard that leads to the back of the house. She has no idea what she’s supposed to tell LaFontaine and Perry; other than for them to run while they still can, before she gets them killed too.  
  
The teen is so preoccupied with her guilt that she fails to notice the shadowy figure sitting on the steps of the back porch. “Danny!” Her head snaps up at the sound of her own name.  
  
“Kirsch!” She runs the rest of the way, throwing her arms around the other teen when she gets close enough to him. The force almost knocks him backwards, but Kirsch holds his ground. He wraps his arms around her waist, pulling her in close.  
  
Danny’s fingers dig in to his checkered shirt as she holds on to his shoulders for dear life, burying her face in the side of his neck. “You’re okay…” She sighs, relief flooding through her. “Oh, thank god.”  
  
“Danny…” Kirsch pulls back, but doesn’t let go of her waist. He has an almost bashful look about him, and can’t quite look her in the eye. “Can we… uh… Could we maybe talk about the fact that you’re, like, a werewolf?”

 


	12. Chapter 12

The early morning air is crisp, with a light wind blowing from the east, rustling the few leaves that still remain on the tree. To Danny’s overly sensitive nose, the breeze smells like damp earth and rotting flesh. There are walkers nearby, maybe half a dozen of them.  
  
Danny and Kirsch sit on the weathered steps of the porch out back of the farmhouse. The paintwork is chipped and flaking, it comes away as Danny scuffs her tennis shoe against the bottom step.  
  
Kirsch sits beside her, waiting patiently for an answer. When it doesn’t look like Danny is going to give him one, he repeats his earlier question; along with a few more. “Why didn’t you tell me you were a werewolf? Did Laura know? I mean, what the hell, Danny? I’ve known you for _waaaay_ longer!”  
  
“Kirsch! Relax!” Danny snaps at him, impatiently running her hand through her hair. “Laura didn’t know. Nobody did. My Dad didn’t want me telling anyone about us-”  
  
“Your dad was one too?” Kirsch interrupts, his eyes wide with wonder. He looks like a kid who’s just found an extra gift under the tree on Christmas morning. “How about your mom? Was she a werewolf too?”  
  
“The proper term is L _ycanthrope,_ and no. My Mom was human. I guess you could say I got more than just my height from my Dad.” Danny manages a wry smile. There had been a running joke in her family that Danny had inherited her thick red hair from her mother, and her coarse fur from her father.

“My Dad’s pack are seventh generation pure-bloods. My Dad left them when the head of the pack - my grandfather - made it clear he had to choose between them and my Mom. She was already expecting me when her and my Dad eloped.” Danny carries on, not giving Kirsch another chance to interrupt.  
  
“I wanted to tell you, and Laura, so many times.” Danny shakes her head with regret. There are so many things that have been left unsaid between her and Laura. “My Dad always worried about me growing up without a pack… but, in a way, I had one. I didn’t just have my parents. I had Laura and her dad, and you and your mom… and now…”  
  
“Now it’s you and me.” Kirsch places one of his beefy paws over both of Danny’s slender hands. Her skin is pale as alabaster in the early morning light, and her eyes are bloodshot and framed by heavy black circles. To Kirsch, she still looks beautiful.  
  
“Are you trying to cheer me up, or make me more depressed?” Danny scoffs, slugging him not-so-lightly in the arm. Her expression softens as she leans to the side, resting her head on his shoulder. “Thanks, Wilson.”  
  
“D-Dog!” Kirsch rolls his eyes. “I told you not to call me that! Oh… shoot. I guess I should stop calling you D-Dog."  
“I’d appreciate it.” Danny laughs. She can’t remember ever having a more insane conversation; not even with Kirsch.

“I’m pretty beat. I’m going to head up and catch a few hours sleep before the others wake up… Thanks for not being dead, Kirsch.” Danny kisses the side of his cheek, before standing up and dusting paint chips off of the back of her pants.  
  
“Any time.” Kirsch gives her a big goofy grin back. He’d barely been able to outrun Danny in her wolf form the night before. Kirsch had just been lucky enough to fall in to the river. He’d left no scent for the wolf to follow after he’d crossed to the other side.  
  
“Uh, Danny? Tonight, do you maybe want me to help you tie yourself up?” And there it is. The _second_ strangest conversation of Danny’s life.  
“Thanks. I’d appreciate that.”  


 

* * *

 

Laura wakes up in the back of the Jeep, all alone, buried under Carmilla’s sleeping bag as well as her own. She panics for a moment, her mind going to worst case scenarios as she thinks Carmilla has left for good. The tension in her gut eases as she sits up and spots Carmilla tending a small fire , just outside of the car.  
  
She reaches for the door handle, but stops as it doesn’t budge. She pulls on it with a frown. “Carm!” Laura catches the vampire’s attention as she pounds on the glass dividing them.  
  
With an amused smirk, Carmilla pulls out the car keys and uses the key fob to unlock the doors. She turns her back to the flustered human, going back to tending the fire she built while Laura was still sleeping.  
  
“You locked me in? Again!” Laura snaps, infuriated at being treated like a prisoner. She’d been foolish to think they’d actually turned a corner last night. “You’re not my jailer! You can’t just-”  
  
“I locked you in to keep you safe while I was gone, Cupcake.” Carmilla cuts her off in a bland, almost bored tone. “Now get back in the car before you catch your death. Breakfast is almost ready.” It’s only now that Laura realizes Carmilla has, what looks to be, a trout, cooking slowly over the fire.  
  
“Oh…” Laura feels ashamed for thinking the worst of the other girl. A crimson blush spreads over her cheeks as she ducks her head. “Thanks. I’ll uh… I’ll be in the car.” Hesitantly, Laura bends down to press a chaste kiss to the side of Carmilla’s cheek.  
  
Carmilla turns her head at the last second. She catches Laura’s lips with her own, while bringing one of her hands up to the back of the younger girl’s neck. The other tugs on the front of Laura’s shirt, pulling her down on to her lap. She kisses her hard and firm, making it crystal clear that last night wasn’t a one off.  
  
“Don’t worry, Cookie. This doesn’t mean we’re getting married or anything.” Carmilla laughs as she brushes Laura’s hair out of her face, letting her thumb linger against her jaw. “It’s just a little human comfort. Nothing wrong with that. Right?”  
  
“Right.” Laura nods, looking more than a little dazed. It takes her a moment to get back to her feet and stumble towards the car. She’s shivering when she gets back inside - Carmilla was right about it being cold enough for Laura to catch her death out there.  
  
She pulls her own sleeping bag around her, holding it tightly as she waits for Carmilla to come join her. She passes the time by over-analyzing their kiss the previous night. Carmilla might be able to act all cavalier about it, but it’s not so easy for Laura.  
  
The only other girl she’s ever kissed is Danny. Carmilla’s lips were unfamiliar, but not unpleasant. It had felt strange to be kissing someone else; but the guilt Laura had felt at first had quickly faded to the back of her mind.  
  
“Hey Space Cadet.” Carmilla teases as she opens the door of the Jeep with one hand, and holds a plate full of fish in the other. “Breakfast is served!” She climbs in the back, alongside the younger girl, and hands over the plate.  
  
Laura’s stomach grumbles at the sight of the fresh fish. The trout is cooked to perfection. It practically melts in her mouth. An obscene sound escapes Laura’s lips. Usually she’d be self-conscious about that kind of thing, but right now she’s too hungry to care.  
  
“Oh my god, this tastes _so_ good! Aren’t you having any?” Laura frowns as she looks up and finds Carmilla watching her intently.  
“Vampire, remember?” Carmilla offers her a lopsided smirk.  
  
“Oh. Yeah.” Laura bashfully ducks her head. “I guess I keep forgetting. It’s not like you have a cape and fangs and- Wait. _Do_ you have fangs?” The sudden change in the conversation baffles Carmilla, but she indulges the teenager anyway.  
  
Curling back her top lip, she reveals two razor sharp canines. They practically glisten in the early morning light. Laura reaches up without thinking, making the vampire rear back. “What the hell are you doing?”  
  
“Sorry! Sorry…” Laura bites at her bottom lip as she wrenches her hand back. “I… I don’t know why I did that. I’m sorry. I… Are they sharp?”  
“You bet your sweet little ass they are, Cupcake.” Carmilla purses her lips in a thin line.  
  
“Jesus, you have _no_ sense of self-preservation, do you? Most people run screaming when they see my teeth. They don’t try to touch them.”  
“I think your fangs are kind of neat.” Laura shrugs, blushing like an idiot as she goes back to picking at her breakfast.  
  
“You’re a strange one, Poptart.” Carmilla shakes her head at the younger girl. She’s never met anyone quite like her before. They lapse in to a comfortable silence as Laura finishes eating. Carmilla’s own hunger has been growing for the last couple of days.  
  
“Does it hurt?” Laura pipes up out of the blue, catching Carmilla off guard.  
“Does what hurt?”  
“You know… when you… does it hurt when you bite someone?”  
  
“It doesn’t hurt me one bit, Cutie.” Carmilla chuckles, deliberately teasing her. She knows what Laura is trying to ask, but that doesn’t mean she has to make it easy on her.  
  
“That’s not… That’s not what I meant!” Laura huffs, pouting up at her. Her wounded expression is adorable. “Does it hurt the person you bite? You know, when you feed from them?”  
  
“That depends.” Carmilla shrugs. She makes a show of inspecting her nails, like Laura asking about this stuff isn’t peaking her interest.  
“On what?”  
  
“Well. First off, it depends on the vampire. We can make it _really_ hurt, if we wanted to. Likewise, it can be relatively painless. I’m told it stings for a few second, but it gets easier. Hell, some people even get off on it.”  
  
“Seriously?” Laura’s eyes widen at the admission. Her cheeks burn bright red as her mind wanders to places it shouldn’t go. “Wow, that’s… messed up.” She frowns, hating the way Carmilla seems to be looking right through her.  
  
“Not really. Who _doesn’t_ like a little bit of biting?” The vampire flashes her a toothy smile, showing off her fangs.  
  
“What’s with all the questions anyway?” Carmilla asks, trying to sound casual about the fact that Laura is so interested in what it feels like to be bitten by a vampire.  
  
“I dunno. I guess I just figured, well, you’ve saved my life more times than I can count. And you find me food, and cook for me, and… I guess I owe you. If you’re hungry, or thirsty, or whatever it is that vampire’s get-”  
  
“Thanks for the offer Cupcake, but I’ll pass.”  
“You’ll pass?” Laura’s eyes are practically bulging out out of her head as she stares at the vampire in utter disbelief. “I’m offering you my _blood,_ against all of my better judgment, and you’ll _pass?_ Is my blood not good enough for you, is that it? Does O negative not float your boat?”  
  
“Universal donor, huh?” Carmilla smirks, amused by the other girl’s indignation at her refusal to feed from her. “Look, it’s nothing personal, Cutie. I just don’t want you to feel like you _owe_ me… Like this is something you _have_ to do.  
  
For once, it’s not a rouse or a play to get what she wants. Carmilla genuinely means it. She has no idea what this tiny human is doing to her. All she knows is that, whatever it is, Mother wouldn’t like it.  
  
“Okay.” A fire burns in Laura’s gaze as she sits up straighter, tilting her chin back ever so slightly. Her hair is tied back in a messy ponytail, showing off her slender neck. “I don’t _have_ to let you feed from me. Got it. Now go ahead. You have my permission.”  
  
“Permission?” Carmilla scoffs at that, only her hunger keeps her from doubling over laughing. Her almond shaped eyes darken as they narrow on the throbbing pulse in the teenager’s neck. “I could drain you dry right now if I wanted to.”  
  
“But you wont.” Laura challenges, sticking her chin even further up in the air as she attempts to puff out her chest. Like the little morsel could ever be a danger to a vampire. “I trust you. So just get on with it already. I know you must be starving.”  
  
“You don’t know the first thing about me.” Carmilla grumbles, but she pulls Laura over towards her - and in to her lap - anyway. Her lips ghost against the curve of Laura’s jaw, trailing kisses down to her collarbone.  
  
“Uh, Carm, aren’t you supposed to be feeding? Not, uh… Carm…” Laura lets out a low moan as the vampire’s tongue runs lightly over her clavicle.  
“Relax, It’ll hurt less.” Carmilla murmurs in her ear, all the while still kissing the side of her neck.  
  
Laura finds herself sinking in to the other girl, relaxing in to her touch; despite what she knows is about to come. “The carotid will do just fine. Though it’s not the best artery to feed from.”  
  
“What… what is?” Laura questions, her eyes closing over as Carmilla begins sucking at her pulse point. Her fangs have yet to graze Laura’s skin, yet the teenager is already a quivering mess.  
  
“That would be the femoral artery.” Carmilla knows exactly what she’s doing as she distracts Laura from the inevitable pain of the bite.  
“And where’s that?”  
  
“You don’t know? What are they teaching you kids these days?” The vampire chuckles at her ignorance. Bringing her hand down between their closely pressed bodies. Her hand slips between Laura’s legs at the same time as her fangs descend. “It’s right… here.” She digs her fingers in to the crease of Laura’s thigh, biting down on her throat at the same time.  
  
Laura lets out a startled gasp. The pain is immense, but it quickly dies down in to something more tolerable. The throbbing in her neck closely matches the beat between her legs. Carmilla makes no attempt to pull her hand back as she feeds from the younger girl.  
  
Laura’s blood is as sweet and tasty as she looks. Carmilla can’t get enough of it. Every fiber of her being screams for her to devour Laura whole. She wants to consume her tiny human, to drain her dry and swallow every last ounce of her blood.  
  
Reigning in the monster inside of her, Carmilla’s fangs retract after twenty or so seconds of feeding. To Laura, the exchange seems to last a lifetime. There’s another sharp sting as Carmilla’s fangs pull out of her.  
  
The vampire laps her tongue against the two tiny puncture marks, stemming the blood flow until it’s little more than a trickle. “Laura? Laura, are you okay?” Carmilla worries she might have taken too much when Laura slumps against her chest.  
  
“I’m fine… Just a little dizzy.” She answers with a sigh. The truth is, the world around her is suddenly spinning. There are two of Carmilla as she lies the teenager down in their makeshift bed.  
  
Reaching over to the backpack where Laura stores all of her sugary snacks, Carmilla pulls out a chocolate bar and hands it over to her. “Here. This should help.”  
“Thanks.” Laura gives her a weak smile in return, and starts nibbling at the chocolate.  
  
The silence between them stretches out while Laura finishes eating. Carmilla watches her intently, out of the corner of her eye, while trying to pretend to be focused on something else entirely. She spots the younger girl moving closer.  
  
Laura surprises her by curling up beside Carmilla. Resting her head on her lap, she closes her eyes over and lets out a gentle sigh as Carmilla runs her fingers over the bare patch of skin at the back of her shirt. “This doesn’t change anything. I’m still going to the mountains… I still need to find my friends.”  
“I’m not stopping you, Cupcake.”

 


	13. Chapter 13

“That cannot be comfortable.” Carmilla takes her eyes off the road long enough to glance down at the tiny human using her as a pillow. Laura is lying spread out across the front bench seat, her head laying in Carmilla’s lap, as she reads a battered paperback copy of _Alice in Wonderland.  
  
“_It’s extremely comfortable. Who knew vampires made such great cushions?” Laura beams up at her, wearing the kind of smile that even the mostly cynical of vampires could find themselves getting lost in.   
  
Carmilla feels herself slipping further down the rabbit hole.   
  
“Gee, thanks Cutie. I’ll add that to my extensive resume.” The vampire rolls her eyes and shifts in to second gear. She leaves her hand on the stick, keeping her arm draped over the other girl. Laura doesn’t seem to mind.   
  
She seems oblivious to the fact that they crossed the state line in to Mississippi earlier in the morning. Carmilla hopes the more indirect route will keep them out of the path of Laura’s friends. It should also buy Carmilla some time before they reach Silas; before Laura finally realizes she won’t be making it to the mountains.   
  
Carmilla spots a rusted sign indicating a lake up ahead. She takes the turning, the concrete road quickly giving way to a worn dirt path.   
  
The Jeep handles it with ease, running almost as smoothly as it did on the main road. Laura remains undisturbed. Lying on her back, with her head resting on Carmilla’s lap, she carries on reading. She only stirs from her book when the car comes to a stop with a jolt.   
  
“Why’d we stop?” The younger girl pushes herself up with her elbows, looking out the window with a frown. “Is that a lake?”   
“My, we are observant today, Cupcake.” Carmilla gives her a teasing smirk as she kills the engine. “I thought we could stop for a while; freshen up in the water.”   
  
“Are you trying to say I smell?” The crease in Laura’s brow deepens when she glares up at the older girl. She looks so adorable, that Carmilla just can’t help herself   
as she leans forward to steal a kiss from her. Laura folds; the corners of her mouth turning up as she eagerly responds.   
  
“You smell _delicious.”_ Carmilla answers in a low purr; which does something funny to Laura’s insides. She feels a pool of warmth in the pit of her stomach, which spreads further south when she sits up and straddles Carmilla’s waist.   
  
She has no idea why the vampire has this kind of effect on her. All Laura knows it that there’s a spark between them. It’s something intangible. LaFontaine would probably describe it as _unquantifiable._   
  
“We should probably make the most of how quiet it is out there. The sound of the engine will bring the walkers.” Laura ducks her head, turning away Carmilla’s intense gaze. Thinking of LaF and the others has only served to remind her how temporary all of this is.  
  
She and Carmilla might be on the same road for now, but they’re both trying to get back to their families. Letting whatever this is between them grow in to something more will only end up making it hurt more when they have to say goodbye.   
  
“Sure.” Carmilla nods tightly, biting back her fangs. “Anytime now, Princess.” She rolls her eyes while Laura fumbles with the door handle. It takes a second, but she eventually manages to get it open, spilling out on to the grass in the process.   
  
Carmilla is smirking as she climbs out over her. “Smooth, Poptart. Real smooth.” She chuckles, offering her hand out to the fallen teen. Laura refuses to swallow her pride, and ignores Carmilla’s outstretched hand as she scrambles back to her feet.   
  
Dusting off her jeans, Laura frowns as she looks around. The water is deceptively calm and still, just like the trees surrounding the lake. There isn’t the slightest sign of life around the water’s edge. It should be teeming with wildlife; but there isn’t even a single solitary bird in sight.   
  
“It’s quiet… Too quiet.” Carmilla squints out over the lake, the vampire putting a voice to Laura’s own fears. “Stay sharp. Keep an eye out for deadheads.”   
  
“Do you think the water is warm enough to go swimming in?” Laura asks, the other girl’s warnings seeming to go right over her head.   
  
“It’s warm enough if you want to catch your death; or pneumonia.” Carmilla rolls her eyes, but she feels a pang of guilt as she watches Laura’s face fall; like Carmilla’s just told her Christmas is canceled this year.   
  
Carmilla tugs on one of Laura’s hands, pulling her in closer before wrapping her arms protectively around the slightly smaller girl. There’s barely an inch of difference between them, but Carmilla just can’t help but see the human girl as small and weak; as something which needs to be protected at all costs.   
  
Kissing the side of Laura’s cheek, letting her lips linger by her ear, she breathes in the human girl’s intoxicating scent - a natural mix of something sweet and tangible - Carmilla does her best to lift her spirits. “I have a heated pool, back home in Silas. Stay in town a few nights, and we can go for a _dip_. I might even lend you a costume… or not.”   
  
Carmilla’s lips arch up in to a smirk as she kisses her way down Laura’s throat. Laura stiffens as she feels the prick of a fang against her collarbone. She doesn’t hesitate for long. Bringing her hand up, she cups the back of Carmilla’s head, pressing her mouth more firmly against her collar.   
  
Lost in equal amounts of hunger and lust, Carmilla almost sinks her fangs in to the smaller girl right then and there. Her thirst for blood takes a back seat as her hands slide under Laura’s shirt. She backs the little human up, pushing her up against the front of the Jeep.   
  
The animal inside of Carmilla is much closer to the surface than it usually is. She lets out a sound that’s a cross between a growl and a purr as she hoists Laura up on to the bonnet of the car. Carmilla follows suit, her knee finding its way between Laura’s parted legs. The teenager’s arms wrap around her neck, pulling her down flush against her.  
  
Things are moving so fast. Carmilla keeps waiting for Laura to tell her to stop. She waits with baited breath. Waiting for the innocent girl lying beneath her to push her away. To reject her. Like Elle did.   
  
The thought is a sobering one. Thinking of Elle brings Carmilla’s fangs ripping through her gums. She rears her head, pulling back at the last second, so as to avoid impaling Laura on her razor sharp canines. “I can’t…” Carmilla growls out.   
  
With a shake of her head, she drops down from the Jeep and runs her hands through her hair. She starts muttering to herself, incoherently switching between speaking in English and in her native tongue. Pacing all the while, in front of a very confused Laura. Even if Laura spoke a word of German, it would be difficult for her to catch a single word. Carmilla’s accent is thick and sharp, and she rapidly fires off words; like bullets spitting out of a machine gun.   
  
“Carm?” Laura sits up slowly, trying not to spook the other girl. His heart is racing ten to the dozen, which doesn’t help matters in the slightest. Carmilla is more hungry than she thought. The tips of her fangs still strain against her gums. “What’s wrong? Did I do something?”   
  
“No.” Carmilla lets out a strained laugh, shaking her head at her. “It wasn’t anything you did, Cupcake. I think I just need to walk it off. Clear my head. Be careful by the water’s edge, and don’t go all the way in. I’m not wading in there to fish you out!”   
  
“Please, I can _swim_!” Laura argues, already sliding off the bonnet and heading for the water. Carmilla grabs her wrist, spinning her around to face her with a smirk.   
  
“That’s not what I’m worried about, Poptart. The last thing I need is for you to end up zombie chow. The water’s probably teeming with those things.”   
“Oh.” Laura glances uneasily at the lake. “Right. I guess I could just wash up from the edge.”   
  
Despite the chill in the air, Laura had been hoping to take a dip. She can’t remember the last time she took a bath or a shower. Washing in polluted rivers and stagnant pools of water has become the new normal for Laura.   
  
The water of the lake looks clean and inviting - if a bit on the cold side - and Laura can’t hide her disappointment at not being able to go for a swim. Carmilla thinks she looks adorable when she’s sulking.   
  
She forgets all about going off to cool down. Instead, she lounges in one of the lower branches of a gnarled old oak tree, sitting with her back against the trunk and her knees drawn up to her chest.   
  
She’d think Laura was trying to tease her - if the girl were actually wired that way - as she pulls her shirt up over her head. She’s facing away from Carmilla, kneeling by the water’s edge as she scoops up handfuls of water.   
  
Her jeans are weathered and frayed at the bottoms. Her tennis shoes caked with dirt. Laura’s once white bra is now grey and washed all out of shape; though the same can’t be said for its precious contents.   
  
All sorts of hungers are stirring within Carmilla as she watches her closely. Taking in the tense curve of her spine. The freckles dotted across her shoulders. The way her skin prickles with the cold breeze coming in off the lake.   
  
Carmilla is so enchanted by the other girl that she fails to spot the rustling in the undergrowth on the edge of the clearing, not ten feet away from where Laura sits, now soaking her feet in the shallows.   
  
The wind is blowing in the opposite direction, and so the stench of death and decay does not reach the vampire’s overly sensitive nose. It’s only once the dead amass, and start the habitual groaning of a pack, that Carmilla senses the danger.   
  
The first of the walkers have stumbled out of the tree line before Carmilla drops down from her perch on the tree. She hollers at Laura, but the human girl has already seen the encroaching danger.  
  
Hastily pulling her shirt back over her head, she shoves her feet inside of her tennis shoes, abandoning any ideas of pausing long enough to bother with her socks. She’s still not quick enough.   
  
A second group of walkers stumble out of the trees. The zombie leading the pack is fresher than the others. Save for the milky white eyes, and a huge chunk of his forearm being missing, the young man looks like he could be out for a hike.   
  
His jaw snaps open and shut as he advances on Laura, his hands hanging limply down by his sides. He hasn’t been dead for long; the stench of decay doesn’t cling to him as thickly as it does the others. He also moves with a swift determination that the others don’t possess - even if that only means he’s shuffling forward at the pace of a geriatric.  
  
Carmilla kicks in to action, springing forward and putting herself between Laura and the walker. It barely even registers the vampire in its path as it tries to carry on advancing on Laura. Carmilla reaches up, gripping its cheeks in her hands. With one swift motion, she rips its head clear off.   
  
With the brain still intact, the jaws keep moving, gnashing at the air. Carmilla tosses the head haphazardly. It lands in the lake with a sickening splash - While Laura watches on in horror.   
  
Out of the corner of her eye, Carmilla catches sight of the other girl. She could rip an entire hoard of walking corpses to shreds, with her bare hands, without even breaking a sweat. She’s conscious of Laura watching her. For all Laura knows she’s a vampire now, there’s a stark difference between _knowing_ and _seeing_ it for herself.   
  
“Move!” Carmilla reaches back for the tiny human girl’s hand, tugging Laura along as she makes a beeline for the Jeep. She makes a mental note to be more careful about using her abilities in front of Laura. Though  
  
she knows she’s going to have to get Laura used to her vampirism soon. They’re so close to Silas now; Laura is going to need to learn how to live with monsters.  
  
  


* * *

  
Danny Lawrence spends the day after the full moon the way she always does; sleeping off the change. It’s already dark by the time she wakes up. The moon is still fat and full, hanging lazily in the night sky. Her pull is still strong on Danny, but the teenager feels more in control than she has for months. Cutting loose, and giving her wolf free reign, has always been the best kind of stress relief.   
  
Having to suppress that side of herself for so long - it’s been months since she was last able to turn - had left Danny tightly wound and on edge. She’d almost come undone after Laura’s death. She’s lost so many people since this all started. Too many. It would be so easy for Danny to just let go. To shift in to her other form and turn her back on her humanity for good.  
  
Lying on her back, with her long limbs spread out across the double bed, Danny stares vacantly up at the nicotine stained ceiling. Inhaling deeply, her nostrils are assaulted by the smell of stale smoke and damp mold, both of which cling to the walls of the small guest room.   
  
Turning over, Danny finds what can only be described as a small picnic, sitting on the bedside table. There are two bottles of water, a can of full fat coke, what looks like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a candy bar, an open tin of peaches, and an apple. Her first guess would be that Perry has been playing _mother,_ but the scent hanging in the air tells another story. “Big goof.” She shakes her head at the image of Kirsch fussing around her all day while she was sleeping.   
  
Danny pops the tab on the soda first, savouring every last sugary drop. She devours the sandwich next, pleased to find that her childhood friend remembered she has an aversion to chunky peanut butter. The chocolate comes next, then the peaches. She saves the apple for last. She’s halfway through it when the door creaks open.   
  
Kirsch creeps in to the room, crouched down low and watching his step on the weathered old floorboards. He’s carrying another two cans of coke, cradling a family bag of Doritos and a packet of cookies against his chest. “Gimme.” Danny holds her hand out for the next lot of goodies, her voice coming out in a low growl; which almost makes Kirsch jump out of his skin. He drops one of the soda cans with a thud, and watches as it rolls under the bed. “You can have that one.” Danny snorts with laughter, snatching the other can out of his hand.   
  
“D-do- I mean, Danny.” A goofy grin spreads over his face as he greets her. “You’re awake. Did you like your lunch? I figured you’d be hungry after… well after last night. Cookie?” He offers her the already open pack. Danny helps herself to two, craving the sugar.   
  
“Thanks, Kirsch. What did you tell LaF and Perry about me sleeping all day?”   
“Exactly what you said to say, D. I said you’d been up all night taking out walkers from the roof with your crossbow. Don’t worry, Lawrence. Your secret is safe with me!”   
  
“Soooo… tonight. Are you going to change again? Do you need to me help tie you to a tree? Or we could put you in the basement-”   
“That’s okay. I’ll be in control tonight. I’ll head out in to the woods and change before the sun sets.”   
“Are you sure that’s a good idea? I don’t think I can outrun you a _second_ time.”   
  
“Relax. I won’t lose it again tonight. That was a one time thing.” Danny laughs, putting him at ease with a pat on his shoulder. “Keeping that part of myself locked away for so long… it isn’t healthy. I just need to keep on top of it. Turn a couple of times a month… That’s not exactly been easy to do on the road.”   
“It would be easier if we stayed put somewhere.” Kirsch suggests. He rubs at the back of his neck, a nervous trait he’s had for as long as Danny can remember. He expects her to chew his head off at the suggestion.   
  
“Maybe.” She nods pensively, taking him by surprise. “This place isn’t so bad. We could build fences, plant a garden… I could run around the woods during the full moon. We could make it work.”  
“Really?” Kirsch’s face lights up at the prospect of finally putting down roots. They’ve been on the road, living out of his truck, for far too long.  
  
“Sure. It’s not like there’s anything waiting for us in the mountains. We’ll talk to the others about it. We’re a family now. We make decisions together.” Danny says with a yawn. She stretches out, trying to work out the knots in her back. “Come on, Wilson. Let’s go have us a family meeting.” She grabs his hand, oblivious to the way he starts blushing, and tugs him towards the door.  


 


	14. Chapter 14

“So you guys want to stay?” LaFontaine looks skeptically from Kirsch to Danny, not quite believing what it is they’re hearing. Perry, for her part, looks cautiously optimistic. She’s happy here at the farmhouse. That much is plain to see. Perry and LaF share a meaningful look, unspoken volumes passing between them.

“We do.” Danny speaks for Kirsch too. “Winter’s coming in fast, and staying south to ride it out is our best option. We’ve got food and supplies. We’ve barely seen any walker activity… This place is as good as any.”

“It could be better.” LaFontaine bites down on their lip before ducking in to one of the kitchen cupboards - which have been scrubbed clean by Perry - and retrieving a leather-bound notebook. They hand it over to Danny like they’re turning in a mid-term, their face wracked with nerves.

Danny flicks through the notebook, struggling to decipher LaF’s chicken scrawl handwriting. There are hastily drawn diagrams accompanying the words. Sketches of solar panels and irrigation ditches. They don’t make much sense to Danny. “What’s this?”  
  
“They’re plans. I’ve been thinking about this stuff for a while. For when we find a place in the mountains. There are ideas for solar panels, irrigation, farming systems. If we stay here long enough we could work the land, grow our own food.” They’ve really thought about this. It might just work.

“What are we waiting for?” Kirsch glance at the plans, hanging over Danny’s shoulder. “What do we need to start building this stuff?” Perry visibly relaxes as she realizes the other two are going for LaF’s idea. She places a hand on LaFontaine’s shoulder; optimistic for the first time in a long time.

“I could make a list?” LaF suggests, glancing at Danny for approval. She nods, her eyes scanning the pages of the notebook. “We’ll start with the defensive stuff, the fences and the ditches."

 

* * *

 

“Slow down! There’s another one of those signs!” Laura sits up in her seat, pointing out the billboard ahead of them. Like Carmilla could ever miss it. They’ve seen signs like this every few miles for the last hour.

  
_Come to Salem. Safe haven. No infected. All welcome._

  
Each sign had more tailored directions on how to get to the town of Salem. Laura kept pointing them out, and Carmilla kept ignoring them. “Maybe we should check it out?”  
“Uh uh! No thank you, Cupcake. I have been to exactly one Salem in my life, and that was enough.” The vampire grumbles.

“Please? These signs are all over. Maybe my friends… they might have seen them too.” All the more reason to stay well away, Carmilla thinks to herself. It isn’t going to be so easy to talk Laura out of it though. Especially without arousing her suspicions.

“In my experience, big welcoming signs like those are usually a trap.” She rolls her eyes, trying to ignore the pitiful way Laura is looking at her. “God! Fine. We can go check it out, but we do it on my terms.”

Doing it Carmilla’s way involves them turning off the main road a few miles before they reach the actual town. She takes it slow as she maneuvers through the trees, looking for somewhere safe to leave the Jeep. If they are walking in to a trap then she doesn’t want to take all of their supplies along with them.

Eventually they hit the jackpot. Carmilla finds a cave. The opening is just wide enough for them to drive through and then open the doors once they’re inside. She packs two bags, to make it look like they’ve been hiking. Laura blindly follows her.

“Do you think the car will be safe here?” The teenager asks, still not sold on leaving their only means of transport behind. Carmilla doesn’t answer. She’s too busy picking up the biggest boulder she can find and placing it in front of the mouth of the cave. She dusts her hands off on her jeans when she’s done.  
“Nobody’s driving over that, Princess.”

It’s still early in the afternoon, so Carmilla doesn’t have to worry about Laura walking around the forest in the dark. They walk at an amiable pace, so as not to tire Laura out. Carmilla needs her to be ready to run if something goes wrong.

And Carmilla is almost certain something will go wrong.

Laura never shuts up as they make their way back to the road. It’s like the girl has never heard of the word stealth. Carmilla doesn’t stop her from talking though. They’re supposed to look like a normal couple of survivors, hiking through the woods and looking for safe haven. Carmilla slips her hand in to Laura’s. Playing her part.

They haven’t been walking for long when Carmilla catches the scent of humans nearby. The air smells heavy with gun oil, stale smoke, and sweat. Her grip on Laura’s hand tightens as she starts taking in the number of heart beats she can hear.

They round a bend in the road and the militia comes in to sight. Five men, all armed to the teeth. They look like they just stepped out of a Rambo movie. The oldest man, a heavyset guy in his mid-fifties, offers the two girls a jovial smile, his AK-47 hanging loosely over his shoulder. “Hi there!”

“Hi!” Laura beams right back. Despite Carmilla’s numerous warnings along the way, she wants to believe that these people mean well. That humanity is alive and well in the little town of Salem. That her friends will be waiting there for her. Her desperate longing is written all over her face.

“You girls heading for Salem?” The big guy does all of the talking, while the other four hang back. They range from a scrawny seventeen year old with a bad case of acne, to a guy who must be pushing sixty. None of them can look Carmilla in the eye. That right there is a bad sign.

“We sure are!” Laura answer, practically humming with excitement. Carmilla stands just behind her, within grabbing distance in case any of the men start getting trigger happy.  
“You boys must be the welcoming committee.” Carmilla struggles to keep the snarl out of her voice. She’s naturally wary of humans; especially ones carrying assault rifles.

“That’s right.” The man’s smile is strained as he looks from Laura to Carmilla. Laura is an easy target. Carmilla is harder to read. For all she looks like any other underfed teenage survivor, there’s a hard edge to her that unnerves the man. He can’t quite put his finger on what it is. So he puts his hands in to the pockets of his old army jacket, his fingers brushing up against the .38 that he keeps in the right.

“We welcome the live ones anyway.” He laughs at his own joke. “The town’s three miles down that road, or a mile through the woods. Me and my boys here can take you. Keep you safe… We look after our own, here in Salem.” The sales pitch is perfect. Well rehearsed.

Carmilla wonders just how many girls these men have led off in to the woods. “Thank you for the offer sir, but we’re just looking for some people. My friends - Danny, Perry and LaFontaine.” Carmilla cringes as Laura gives far too much away. She isn’t surprised when the man’s grin widens and he nods in the affirmative.

“We’ve had a few folks come by recently. I’m pretty sure there were a couple of Daniels, maybe a Danny or two. I’m not sure about anyone named LaFontaine, but we do got a Perry…” He says just enough to make is sound plausible that their friends might be in Salem. Laura buys it. Hook, line and sinker.

“Perry’s here? Oh thank god!” Carmilla puts on a show of her own as she grabs at Laura’s arm. “He’s my little brother. He’s only eight. We got separated a few days ago. I’ve been so worried!” Taking on the role of frantic sister softens some of Carmilla’s harder edges. It makes her look weak and desperate.

“Yeah, that sounds like Perry.” The man squints against the afternoon sun. “Little guy? Mop of a dark hair?” Like every good conman, the guy takes his queues from Carmilla, hazarding a guess at what her little brother might look like.

“That’s him!” It’s an effort, but Carmilla forces her expression to light up. “Oh god. Laura, that’s him!” The grin she shoots her human companion is strained. She can see the confusion playing on Laura’s features. She has no idea what Carmilla is doing.

“C’mon, Babe.” Linking their arms, Carmilla starts walking towards the group of men. While they’re still out of earshot she whispers, “There are too many of them. Too much open space. I can’t risk you getting shot.” Laura nods, swallowing down her fear as they draw closer to the militia.

“Well let’s get you back to your brother, Miss. Tony, you and Curtis man the line. We’ll escort our new friends to town.”  
“Sure thing, Doug.” Tony, the teenager with the face full of acne, nods. There’s a sour note in his voice though. He’s clearly not pleased about being left behind with the pensioner while the other men go have their fun. He has no idea he’s the lucky one.

Doug and one of the other guys, a Hispanic man with a pronounced limp, go on ahead, leaving Laura and Carmilla sandwiched between them and the guy bringing up the rear as they walk back in to the woods. The trees are densely packed together, and reach high up in to the sky. The canopy of leaves almost form a roof above them, blocking out the natural light. Doug turns on a torch to guide them, dependent on the light.

Carmilla doesn’t need anything. The vampire is quite at home in the eerie gloom of the ancient forest. Laura is shaking beside her. She can feel the other girl trembling as they walk arm in arm. Without breaking her stride, Carmilla leans in close, her lips brushing against Laura’s ear.

“Whatever happens next… I’d never hurt you. Ever. Remember that.” Carmilla hisses, squeezing her hand tightly; right before she shoves her. Laura goes tumbling forward, rolling down a shallow ditch that none of the men had noticed.

Things get pretty crazy after that.

Laura hears what sounds like a fierce roar, followed by the sound of blood curdling screams. She hears a single gunshot, followed by a yelp. “Carm!” Against her better judgment, Laura scrambles to the top of the ditch, poking her head up just in time to see what looks like a large, black, panther, jumping on Doug and ripping his throat out with its teeth.

“Carmilla?” Laura whimpers, catching the panther’s attention. There’s something about the way it carries itself, even limbing from the gunshot wound in it’s side, that reminds her of the vampire. Laura can’t quite explain it, but she knows it’s her.

“Doug? Mitch?” The teenager and the old man they left behind call out for their friends, no-doubt startled by the sound of the gunshot. Heavy footfalls snap against the crisp leaves on the ground, coming in fast from the west.

“You need to change back!” Laura snaps at the vampire-turned-panther. “Now, Carm!” Carmilla ignores her. Laura isn’t sure if she can understand her or not. Scrambling up out of the ditch, Laura cautiously makes her way over to the big cat.

“Carm, please. You gotta change back! You were right, okay? It was stupid to come! Now stop screwing around!” She digs deep, grabbing handfuls of fur in a bid to try and get Carmilla to move. The animal’s jaws open wide as she lets out a strangled cry of pain. “Carmilla?”

Laura pulls her hands back and finds the left one covered in blood. “Oh no. Oh no… no, no, no…” The teenager starts to panic, but there’s no time. The other two are almost upon them. It takes a herculean amount of effort, but Carmilla manages to get back on to her paws and starts hitting Laura’s side with her head. It takes three forceful nudges before Laura gets the message and clambers on to her back.

“Shit, where do I hold on?” Laura lets out a startled yelp as Carmilla suddenly lurches forward, tearing up the ground as she sprints away from the men coming after them. Laura has no choice but to bury her head in the side of Carmilla’s neck and grab at the fur on her sides.

The vampire makes it all the way back to the cave before she collapses under the weight of the teenager on her back. She lays on the ground, tongue lolling, sides heaving as she pants for breath. Laura hits the dirt with a roll, springing back to her feet to jump to the other girl’s aid.

They’re right outside the cavern where they left the car. Laura knows it will be safer inside for them, but there’s no way she can drag the big cat all the way over there, never-mind lift her in to the back of the car.

“Carm, I need you to change back now. I can’t help you like this.” Laura pleads, feeling less than useless. “Please. You need blood, and I can’t give you any when you’re like this.” Carmilla’s fangs are as large as Laura’s clenched fist. They’d rip her apart if Carmilla tried to feed on her in her current state.

Laura is desperate as she rummages through her pack and finds the little swiss army knife that she put there before they left the car. “This better work…” Clenching her teeth, she pulls out the dull blade and rakes it across her palm. The knife bites in to the soft flesh, ripping it open. Laura’s first instinct is to drop the knife and clench her fist.

The blood wells up, pooling around the sides of her fist before dropping to the ground. From somewhere behind Laura, Carmilla lets out a snarl. “Oh fuck.” Laura spins around, expecting to see the big cat bearing down on her. Instead, she sees Carmilla back in her human form. The relief she feels is short lived as Carmilla pounces.

The bullet wound in her side is still there, oozing blood as she surges forward. The vampire’s eyes are dark, almost black, and they’re fixed solely on Laura. She wonders, briefly, if maybe this will be the last stupid thing she does.

Carmilla’s body slams in to Laura’s, knocking her on to her back and sending the wind flying out of her. She gasps, struggling to catch her breath, right before Carmilla grabs her wrist and pulls her injured palm up to her mouth. She clamps down with lips and teeth, ignoring Laura’s desperate whimpers as she tries to pull away.

“That’s too much… Carm… too much.” Laura’s field of vision starts to narrow, with black spots appearing on the edges of it as Carmilla steals away her precious life force; taking much more than Laura can afford to give.

 

* * *

 

The last of the natural light is dying out as Danny finishes hammering the last of the fence posts. It’s taken them all day - two trips to Walmart and a drive half way around the county - but they’ve managed to scrape together the materials to make a decent fence that runs around the whole of the main house.

They stole the fence posts from the side of the road, and salvaged a load of chicken wire from Walmart. It’s hardly The Great Wall of China, but it will stop any stray walkers from getting too close to the house. They plan on reinforcing it, and extending it out past the orchard, but a job like that will take time, as well as supplies.

“Hey Danny!” Kirsch comes jogging up to her, having just finished setting up their first line of defense; a load of tin cans and string, set up to trip anything stupid enough to walk in to them - and to make a hell of a noise when they do.

There’s a chill in the air and frost on the ground, but Kirsch has his shirt off and tucked in to the back of his jeans. He wipes at the sweat on his brow with the back of his hand, offering Danny a sheepish smile. “LaF’s rigged the solar panels to the generator. A few sunny days and we should have the power back on full time.”

It’s not quite as simple as that, but Kirsch likes to look on the bright side. “That’s great, Kirsch. Can you give me a hand with this last roll of chicken wire? Then we can call it a night.” The smell of actual meat, cooking on the stove in the kitchen, has Danny’s mouth watering.

She’d caught a couple of rabbits while they’d been out on supplies runs, snaring them with some traps that her dad had once shown her on one of their many camping trips. Perry had looked a little sickly when Danny had presented them to her. She’d been more open to cooking with them once Danny had skinned and prepared the meat.

Between the two of them, she and Kirsch managed to finish off the last panel of wire for the fence just before nightfall. “So, D… How are you doing? Do you… do you need to, you know?”  
“Eat something before I pass out?” Danny answered in a deadpan tone, before letting a small smile creep on to her lips as she knocked her shoulder in to his. “I’m fine, Wilson. A little on edge, but otherwise fine.”

The moon directly overhead of them was fat and full, ripe with promise. The sun had only just turned in for the night, yet Danny could already feel the moon and its pull on her. “I’ll take a sedative after dinner. Maybe go out hunting once everyone else is asleep. I saw some deer tracks in the woods last night. I might be able to bag us some breakfast.”

“I could come with? If you want?” Kirsch suggests, sounding a little desperate. “You know, be your look out, or whatever?”  
“Sorry, Kirsch. You’ll just slow me down… but thanks.” Danny gives him a scrap of a smile, before tossing the mallet she’s been using - to drive in the fence posts - over her shoulder and sprinting for the house. “Last one in has to wash up!"


	15. Chapter 15

  
“You’re awake.” Carmilla’s voice is low and hard as Laura lets out a low moan. She’s lying in the back of the Jeep, on their makeshift bed of sleeping bags and blankets. Carmilla is up front, sitting with her feet up on the dashboard. She has her back to Laura. “…Finally.” From the angry set of her jaw, you’d think she was the one who had almost been killed.

Laura sits up slowly, her head spinning from the blood loss. She tries to push herself up using the hand that she sliced open. Pain shoots right through her palm and up in to her wrist. “Jesus… son of a… Ow.” Laura cradled her injured hand against her chest. She used the other to brush her hair back.

Her vision was still spotty. She turned her head to the left, to look over at Carmilla, and bit back another groan as a wave of nausea washed over her. It took her a second to steady herself as she shuffled back against the car door, using it to prop herself up.

“How long was I out?” Laura asks. She makes the question sound so innocuous, like it’s an everyday thing to ask. Carmilla’s nails dig in to the leather of the seats. It’s dark out, but dawn will be breaking soon. Laura’s been out all night.

“Ten, maybe twelve, hours?” Carmilla shrugs. Her gaze is fixed on the mouth of the cave, like she expects the two men she left alive to come looking for them. Either that, or she just can’t bring herself to turn and look at Laura. “I could have killed you… I almost did.”

“You were hurt-”  
“Don’t try and make excuses for me. For what I am.”   
“Carm, you’re a hero! You’ve saved my life, like a dozen times!”

“That wouldn’t count for shit if I took it from you!” Carmilla snaps, finally turning to face the younger girl. Any response that Laura might have had to that dies on her lips as she realizes Carmilla has been crying. Her eyes are red and puffy. She doesn’t look angry at all. She looks terrified.

“I’ve killed people, Laura. I’m not proud of that fact, but I’ve learned to live with what I am. What I do to survive. I don’t think I could live with myself if I…” She falters. Shakes her head. “Self-preservation 101, Princess. Never cut yourself in front of a hungry vampire.”   
“I trust you.” It takes a lot out of her, but Laura manages to shuffle forward and tug on Carmilla’s sleeve, urging her to get in to the back with her. Carmilla rolls her eyes, but relents.

She climbs over the front seats and drops down beside Laura, spreading out and pulling Laura’s head in to her lap. The younger girl curls up beside her without complaint, burying her face against the side of Carmilla’s hip. “I knew you’d stop. Even when I was starting to black out… I knew you’d stop.”

“Yeah. I stopped alright.” Carmilla scoffed. She threw her head back against the side of the door, staring up through the sunroof. The stars were still out, though they were dulled under the light of the lingering full moon. “Right about the time your heart stopped.”   
“Carmilla-”

“Don’t, Creampuff. Whatever you’re about to say to try and make me feel better about almost killing you… Just don’t. Carmilla pulls away. It’s more to punish herself than Laura. “Get some more rest. I’m going to go move the rock and drive us out of here. If I keep my foot down I should get us to Silas in a day, maybe a day and a half.”   
  
For once Laura doesn’t argue. She gives her a small nod, preoccupied with the fact that her heart stopped beating. Somewhere in the back of her mind the thought registers that getting to Silas will mean leaving Carmilla behind, sooner rather than later. She isn’t sure she’s ready to give up the one person she has left in her life.

Carmilla hasn’t exactly been in a rush to get back to Silas. She likes the freedom of the road. She likes not having Mother breathing down her back. She likes that Laura still looks at her like she’s human. Going back to Silas will change all that. Carmilla doesn’t have a choice though. Going home is the only way to keep Laura safe; to keep her alive.

Once they get back on the highway Carmilla puts her foot down on the gas. The Jeep starts tearing up the road with only the minimum amount of protest. The gears grind every time she shifts them, and the break pads are shot, but the old model Jeep should get them where they’re going in one piece.   
  
Laura sleeps well in to the late afternoon. Carmilla finally pulls over when she has to stop to pee, and she wakes Laura up to eat something. Chewing seems like too much of an effort for the teenager, so she sips at a protein shake before curling back up on the front seat.

Carmilla doesn’t stop again after that. Not until they’ve passed through Missouri and driven halfway across the state of Nebraska. Silas is tucked away on an island in the middle of Lake McConaughy, overlooked by any map. Carmilla eases up on her speed the second she turns off highway 92 and starts down the back-road that will lead them home. By the time Laura comes round again, Carmilla has stopped altogether.

“Are we there yet?” Laura mumbles as she wipes the sleep from her eyes. She stretches out in the front seat, her back clicking from being cramped up for so long. Looking around, she realizes they’re stopped in front of a bridge. It almost looks its carved out of the earth itself. It stretches out across the water, the other side shrouded completely from view by a low fog that has rolled in from the east.

“Not quite.” Carmilla bites down at her lip, worrying it between her teeth. This is it. There’s no turning back after this. She’s been sat there, with the engine idling, just staring at the land bridge for what seems like eternity. “I’ve been thinking. We could just keep driving. Head to the mountains, find this holy grail that you and your friends seem to think is out there.” She’s having second thoughts about brining Laura here.

“No.” Laura sounds sure of herself as she answers. “No way! You’re almost home! You get to see your family and your friends and… I would kill for that. To have somewhere to go back to.” She sits up straighter in her seat, trying to peer through the fog at what's waiting for them up ahead.

“Besides… maybe you were right. Maybe I do need to stop and think about my next move. Silas seems as good a place as any. Better even… Since you’ll be there.” Laura offers the other girl a sheepish smile. Even after weeks on the road together, after Carmilla has protected and saved her countless times, she still expects Carmilla to reject her as she leans forward to kiss her.

The vampire is still punishing herself over feeding from the other girl, but she can’t stop herself from leaning in to reciprocate the kiss. Some hungers are stronger than others, just as some desires are. For Carmilla, in this moment, her desire to keep Laura safe far outweighs her desire for her own freedom. She runs the pad of her thumb over Laura’s cheek as they pull apart. “I’m sorry about before. I just… I’d never forgive myself if I hurt you.”

 

* * *

 

“Hold still, Crybaby. I don’t want to cut your ears off.” Danny slaps at the side of Kirsch’s head as he squirms away from the scissors in her hand.   
“Just don’t cut it too short!” He grumbles, eying the scissors warily as Danny continues snipping bits off. “The last time you gave me a haircut my Mom had to shave my head.”

“We were seven, Wilson. And your hair is getting as long as mine.” Danny teases. She tugs on a particularly long strand of hair, making Kirsch yelp. “Quit whining! Or I’ll cut a rude word in to the back.” They lapse in to an easy kind of silence as Danny finishes.

It’s been over eight months since Kirsch last had a haircut. He’d been growing it out before the world had ended, and it had carried on growing afterward. He’d asked Danny to borrow a band to tie it back that morning, and she’d gone straight for the scissors.

“Wanna do me next?” LaF asks, running a hand through their unkempt locks. It’s hard to find a good barber during the apocalypse.   
“I’m going to start changing.” Danny huffs, though she beckons for LaFontaine to take Kirsch’s place in the chair. “Wilson, I swear to god!” She snaps as she looks up and finds him checking his reflection in the dented toaster.   
“It’s cool, Bro. I like it. I’m uh, I’m gonna go see if Perry needs any help with her vegetable garden.”

Danny watches him go, laughing softly as he runs his fingers through his hair. She cut it short and functional on the back and sides, but left enough on top for him to play around with. “You should be careful with Kirsch. He’s a nice guy.” LaFontaine comes out with the warning out of the blue. Their eyes are fixed on one of the kitchen counters as Danny tilts their head to the side, carefully trimming the hair around their left ear.

“Yeah. I know he is. Kirsch and I have been friends since preschool.” Danny isn’t sure where the defensive tone in her voice has come from, but she feels like there’s an unspoken accusation in LaF’s words.  
“Yeah, but it’s not like you ever paid that much attention to him. Not with Laura around.” The scissors clatter to the floor as Danny drops them. Her hands clench up in to fists as she fights the surge of anger she feels in the pit of her stomach. She’s always volatile this close to the full moon.

“That’s not fair.” Somehow Danny manages to keep herself from actually snarling. “Kirsch is my friend, but Laura… I loved Laura.”   
“And Kirsch is in love with you. Clearly.” LaFontaine finally turns to look back at her. “Just be careful with him, okay?”   
“Okay.” Danny nods. Her mouth feels dry as she glances out the window and catches Kirsch kneeling to help Perry to separate out the seedlings they got from Walmart. ”Okay.”

 

* * *

 

 

  
The fog on the bridge seems to grow thicker the further across they drive. Laura just thinks it’s freaky weather. She doesn’t realize it’s part of the town’s defenses. Just one of many ways to ensure that Silas is overlooked by the outside world. It’s been that way ever since Carmilla can remember. Mother doesn’t like uninvited guests.

The car crawls to a stop once they reach the other side of the bridge. Laura leans forward to look out through the windscreen. She’s met with the impressive sight of a ten foot stone wall, reaching out as far as the eye can see in both directions. “Wow. They sure built this fast.” Laura marvels at the construction. “Does this keep the zombies out?”

“It’s not for the zombies.” Carmilla scoffs at her. Laura looks more closely, and realizes the stone is old and weathered. There’s moss growing on some spots and big cracks in others. The wall has been around for a lot longer than six months. “This wall was built when the town was founded. To protect it during the war, Cupcake.”

“What war?” Laura frowns, not quite following her. Carmilla allows herself a small smirk as she honks on the horn, catching the attention of the guards responsible for manning the gate.   
“That would be the civil war… Welcome to Silas, Creampuff.”

 


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been forever since I updated! I lost the plans I had for the next few chapters and had to write them up again and shift a few things around.

  
Laura wakes up to the late morning light and the scent of fresh linen. The pillow tickles against the side of her cheek as she turns over to get the sun out of her eyes. Laura can’t remember the last time she slept in an actual bed, never mind one with clean sheets. She’s utterly content to stay curled up right where she is.

The Egyptian cotton is soft and warm against her mostly bare skin. She’d stripped off her own clothes and changed in to an old t-shirt of Carmilla’s before crashing in to bed the previous night. They’d arrived at Silas pretty late and Carmilla had parked up outside a ranch style house.   
  
She’d led the human girl straight upstairs to the master bedroom and had left her there, promising to come straight back after she’d gone to see her mother. Laura had passed out from sheer exhaustion not long after Carmilla had left.

She should be more worried about waking up alone than she actually is, but the other side of the bed has clearly been slept in, and Laura just can’t find it in herself to worry about anything when she’s buried under a mound of blankets. Voices drift in from the street outside, and music is playing from somewhere within the house itself. It’s something soft and classical, and oddly soothing.

Laura would quite happily sleep the day away, but her full bladder doesn’t quite agree. Grumbling to herself, she slips out from under the covers and heads to the en suite that adjoins the master bedroom. The hardwood floor is cold under her bare feet, but stepping in to the bathroom is a different story. The marble tiles have underfloor heating.

Laura actually stands in the middle of the room for a good thirty seconds, just absorbing it all. After close to seven months living out of cars and camper vans, just having four walls around her and a roof over her head feels like a luxury.   
  
A strangled moan actually escapes her lips as she turns on the shower and piping hot water starts pouring out from the fixture. She doesn’t know how a little town like Silas still has power, but she’s not about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

She steps under the hot spray with her back to it, just standing there and letting the water wash away a multitude of sins. Time slips by her, and she’s been in the shower a whole twenty minutes before she even starts washing her hair. The shampoo is something fruity and expensive, and it lathers in to a thick foam that will leave her hair softer than it has been in months.

The bathroom is full of steam by the time Laura shuts off the water and steps out of the shower stall. The towel hanging on the heated rack is almost big enough to wrap around Laura twice. It’s soft and fluffy and so white that Laura actually worries about getting it dirty; despite the fact that she feels cleaner than she has in a long time.

“Hey Cutie, I thought you’d slipped down the drain in there.” Carmilla greets her with a wise crack and a genuine smile. Like Laura, she’s freshly showered and seems well rested.   
“Sorry.” Laura flushes. “I might have used all the hot water. God, sorry… I didn’t think, it’s probably rationed or something-” Her rambling is cut off as Carmilla rises gracefully from the bed and slinks over to the teenager, cupping her chin and kissing her almost senseless.   
“Wow…”

“Don’t worry about it, Cupcake. There’s no rationing here. You can have whatever you’d like, whenever you want it.” Carmilla’s husky tone has a suggestive lilt to it, making Laura’s blush deepen.   
“How do you still have power and running water? Is it some kind of vampire magic?” Laura regrets the question the second it leaves her mouth, as Carmilla starts laughing at her.

“It’s the magic of hydroelectricity, Cupcake.” Carmilla chuckles, ignoring the wounded look on the younger girl’s face. “Silas is an island, we’re never short of water. Besides, our little town has always been ahead of the times. Silas isn’t just off the map, it’s off the grid. Completely self-sufficient... I’ll give you the nickle tour after lunch. Help yourself to anything out of my closet, and come down when you’re ready.”

Carmilla presses a kiss to the side of Laura’s mouth, before leaving the other girl raiding her wardrobe, and heading back downstairs to the brightly lit kitchen. The fluorescent lights buzz overhead as she steps up to the refrigerator and inspects its contents. It’s been years since she’s been back home, but the place is as immaculate and well maintained as if she’d just stepped out for an hour to go the store.

“I took the liberty of filling it.” Carmilla jumps as her mother’s crisp accent washes over her. She’d gone to see her the night before, when she’d first gotten back, but that had been a flying visit. Carmilla’s skin had been crawling by the time she came home and climbed in to bed beside Laura.

“The pantry too. I’m sure your guest would appreciate something fresh for breakfast.” The creature standing before Carmilla has been known by many names over the endless centuries she has walked the earth, but since founding the town of Silas she has come to be known as Mayor Lilith Morgan.

Despite not being actual blood relatives - at least not in the human sense - Lilith and Carmilla look a lot alike. The mayor looks like an older version of her daughter, with long dark hair that hangs around her shoulders in soft curls. They also share the same gaunt cheeks and chiseled jawline.

Lilith’s eyes are soft and seemingly warm as they watch Carmilla from across the kitchen, but the younger vampire knows better. There is nothing soft and warm about Lilith Morgan. “Thank you, Maman.” Carmilla keeps her own gaze trained on the floor. She’s been free of all this for over two years. Coming back to Silas, back to mother, it’s like a physical kick in the teeth. Nothing short of the apocalypse could have brought her back here.

“I’d like you and - Laura, is it? - to join Will and I for dinner tonight. That should give you plenty of time to show her around our.” Despite living in America since long before the War of Independence, Lilith still speaks with a clipped British accent. It had served her well during the age when Britain had still been an Empire.   
“Of course, Maman.” Carmilla agrees. She doesn’t dare argue.

“Hey Carm, I-” Laura walks in to the kitchen and spots Carmilla’s mother standing beside her. “Oh. Hi. You must be Carmilla’s mom. I’m Laura. Laura Hollis.” The teenager steps forward, offering her hand out to the imposing older version of Carmilla. Lilith ignores her outstretched hand and embraces her with a motherly hug instead. Laura is surprised, but goes with it. She laps up the motherly act that Lilith Morgan has spent centuries perfecting.

“Laura, welcome! Carmilla has told me so much about you my dear.” Lilith pulls back and examines the human girl. She has the cold, dead, eyes of a shark, but her radiant smile masks her scrutiny. She knows Laura wants to leave and find her friends.   
  
Lilith also knows her daughter well enough to know she’s already head over heels for the little human girl. The only way Carmilla will stay and - more importantly - do as she’s told, is if Laura stays too. “Please, feel free to stay in our little town as long you need.”

“Thank you, Mayor Morgan.” Laura blushes. “That’s very generous of you, but I… I won’t be staying more than a few days. I have friends that I need to catch up with.”   
“Of course. And, please, call me Lilith.” The mayor places her hand on Laura’s shoulder, offering her a toothy smile. “I’ll leave you two girls to it. Carmilla.” She nods at her daughter and then walks out the door.

 

* * *

 

  
“That’s the school over there, and behind it there’s a ton of farmland… What?” Carmilla stops in the middle of her tour spiel as she realizes Laura isn’t really listening, hasn’t been for a while. “You with me Creampuff?”   
“What? Yeah. Sorry.” Laura brushes her hair back from her eyes, wearing an easy smile. “It’s stupid. I just… this is the first time in months that I haven’t had to look over my shoulder, or worry about being eaten.”   
“I dunno, play your cards right…” Carmilla grins, knocking her hip in to Laura’s.

“Pervert.” Laura scorns, playfully shoving at the other girl. “I mean it, Carm!”  
“So do I.” Carmilla wraps an arm around her waist, pulling her in closer and stealing a long, lingering kiss as Laura melts against her. The younger girl’s grin reaches from ear to ear as she pulls back.  
“I’m being serious. This place… It’s amazing.” Laura sighs and leans in to her as Carmilla drapes an arm over her shoulders. “I could live here. I could be happy. We could… I mean, if you wanted there to be a we. An us-”

“I want.” Carmilla cuts her off before she can start rambling. Cupping Laura’s cheeks in her hands, she makes sure to stare her down so that the message is clear. “I want you more than I have ever wanted anything, or anyone, else.” The pads of her thumbs softly caress Laura’s cheeks. Carmilla can’t imagine losing her so soon; she only just found her.

“I’ll come back.” Laura promises, dashing Carmilla’s hopes that she might just have given up on her wild goose chase of finding her friends. “Once I find the others. I’ll bring them back here, and we can start fresh. We can finally stop running and start living. This place is everything we wanted. And more.” Carmilla definitely falls in the ‘and more’ category.

“Sure. C’mon, let me show you the market.” She links her hand in to Laura’s and tugs her along towards the main part of town. They pass more people, and Laura can’t quite ignore the way people quickly move out of their way. Just like she can’t ignore the wary glances, or the hushed whispers; or the way these people address Carmilla like royalty. Literally.

“Countess Karnstein.” A vendor standing by a fruit and veg stall actually bows at her. Carmilla nods stiffly, barely acknowledging him. It’s been years since she’s been back here. She’s almost forgotten what it can be like.   
“So you’re kind of a big thing around here, huh?” Laura teases, unaware of just how uneasy all of the attention is making Carmilla feel.

“That’s what happens when your family founds a town and runs it for two centuries.” Carmilla shrugs, trying to play it down. “Hey, now that you’ve had the nickel tour, how about we head back to my place and I show you that heated pool?”   
“I thought you’d never ask.”

 

* * *

 

“I can’t believe we’re getting dressed up for dinner!” Laura laughs as she smooths her hands down over the ivory colored dress she’s liberated from Carmilla’s walk in closet. Carmilla herself is wearing a strapless little black dress that has Laura practically foaming at the mouth.

“Mother is very particular.” Carmilla answers - almost with a sigh - as she stands behind Laura, running her hands up and down Laura’s bare arms. “You look beautiful.”   
“Thanks, you don’t look so bad yourself.” Laura laughs. She twists on the spot, reaching back to kiss her.

“Am I interrupting something?” A voice sounds from behind them, making Laura jump. Carmilla barely bats an eyelid at the intrusion.   
“I see your manners haven’t improved, William.” She rolls her eyes at her brother. “Laura, William. William, Laura.”   
  
“Charmed, I’m sure.” Will moves with the grace of an ally cat as he saunters over to Laura, takes her hand in his and kisses the back of it. Despite the warmth in his smile, his eyes are cold and black. He reminds Laura of a shark.

“Nice to meet you.” She does her best not to shudder as she drops her hand back down by her side. Carmilla moves in closer, placing a protective hand on Laura’s hip. “Carm’s told me a lot about you.” And most of it was probably a lie.   
  
“Oh, I very much doubt that.” Will smirks, as though reading her thoughts. “I doubt Kitty’s told you much of anything about Silas. Like why she hasn’t been back in so long.”   
“William.” Carmilla growls out each separate syllable. “You’re walking a fine line-”

“My apologies.” Will doesn’t look all that sorry. “I’m just curious why you came back. Now I see.” He flashes that toothy, shark-like, smile at Laura; making her even more uncomfortable. Carmilla bites back an actual growl. She expected her family to use Laura against her, she just didn’t expect it to start so soon.  
  
For decades she was free from this place. From this town and these people. Coming back with her tail between her legs was never going to be easy, but becoming so invested in her new human companion has made it that much harder. “Mother is waiting.” With one last look over Laura, he turns and leaves.   
  
Laura finally lets out the shiver she’s been holding in since Carmilla’s brother introduced himself. “Well, your brother seems like a douche.” Carmilla snorts at the smaller girl’s observation, tugging her in close and pressing her lips against her cheek.   
  
“He is. My family are… complicated. You’re safe here though, that’s all that matters.”   
“This is only temporary.” Laura reminds her.  
“So you’ve said. Multiple times.” Carmilla smiles sadly, knowing that a confrontation is coming.   
  
Sooner or later, she’s going to have to make the tiny teenager see sense. Silas is the only safe place left, and going in to the mountains after her friends is suicide. “Hey, how about we skip the family dinner? We can raid the fridge and climb in to bed.” She suggests, putting off the showdown for a little while longer.

“Hmmm, I don’t know. It seems like a waste to be wearing this dress for a ‘quiet night in’. Laura giggles as Carmilla nips playfully at her neck, her hands running over her sides.   
“Well…” The vampire’s voice is husky at her ear. “You could always take it off.”


End file.
